THD  NEWEST  WAY 


CELESTE  J.  MILLER. 


THE  NEWEST  WAY  ROUND 
THE  WORLD 


Tlie  Autocrat  of  All  the  Russias 


THE   NEWEST    WAY 
ROUND  THE   WORLD 


CELESTE  J.  MILLER 


Illustrated  from  photographs  gathered 
by  the  author  in  all  parts  of  the  World 


NEW  YORK 

CALKINS  AND  COMPANY 

1908 


COPYRIGHT  1908  BY 
CALKINS  and  COMPANY 

(All  rights  reserved) 


Published   April,   1908. 
Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


This  volume  is  dedicated  to  the  memory  of 
my  father,  who  taught  me  early  in  life  to 
paddle  my  own  canoe,  and  to  the  people,  the 
world  over,  who  have  helped  to  make  my 
various  wanderings  a  happy  remembrance. 


1562989 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PUBLISHERS'  FOREWORD xi 

I.  EASTWARD  BOUND .      .  15 

II.  Moscow,  THE  HOLY  CITY 23 

III.  THE  GREAT  SIBERIAN  RAILWAY 34 

IV.  SIBERIA  AND  THE  SIBERIANS 40 

V.  LAST  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  EMPIRE  ...  54 

VI.  "  THE  HERMIT  COUNTRY  " 69 

VII.  KOREA  AND  THE  KOREANS 81 

VIII.  ALONG  THE  COAST  OF  CHINA 90 

IX.  SHANGHAI,  QUEEN  OF  THE  EAST 97 

X.  CITIES  OF  THE  YANGTZE  RIVER 107 

XI.  ON  THE  CHINA  SEA 126 

XII.  BANGKOK,  A  MODERNIZED  CITY 137 

XIII.  THE  ISLAND  OF  SINGAPORE 146 

XIV.  "THE  LAND  OF  PAJAMAS  AND  SARONGS"     .      .  153 

XV.  THE  GREAT  TEMPLE  OF  BORO-BOEDOR     .      .      .  168 

XVI.  JAVA  AND  THE  DUTCH 184 

XVII.  LAST  GLIMPSES  OF  JAVA 197 

XVIII.  SAIGON  AND  HAIPHONG 211 

XIX.  HANOI,  THE  PARIS  OF  THE  ORIENT     ....  220 

XX.  BACK  TO  CHINA 229 

XXI.  "  THE  LAND  OF  THE  RISING  SUN  "  247 

XXII.  JAPANESE  CUSTOMS  AND  ART 258 

XXIII.  THE  INTERIOR  OF  JAPAN 269 

XXIV.  SOME  SACRED  SPOTS  OF  JAPAN 282 

XXV.  FAREWELL  TO  JAPAN 296 

XXVI.  HAWAII  AND  HONOLULU -     .  313 

XXVII.  CALIFORNIA — AND  THE  HOME  OF  THE  MORMONS  326 

XXVIII.  THE  LAND  OF  FRUIT  AND  FLOWERS     ....  338 

XXIX.  THE  CIRCLE  COMPLETE 357 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Autocrat  of  all  the  Russias Frontispiece 

FACIKQ  PAGE 

A  View  of  Bremen 18 

House  400  Years  Old,  Bremen 20 

Statue  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse 20 

Russian  Sleigh  and  Drosky 24 

The  Kremlin,  Moscow .      .  ^  .  26 

The  Great  Czar's  Cannon 26 

Cathedral  of  the  Assumption,  Moscow 28 

Gate  of  the  Redeemer,  Moscow 28 

Cathedral  of  St.  Basil,  Moscow 30 

Palace  of  Michael  Romanoff,  Moscow 30 

The  English  Lady 36 

The  English  Lady  and  her  Dog 36 

Count  Tolstoi '.  38 

Russian  Peasants 42 

View  of  Irkutsk,  Siberia '  .  48 

A  Greek  Priest 56 

A  Street  in  Blagovchensk,  Siberia 60 

The  Governor's  Mansion,  Habarovsk 60 

Vladivostok — Last  Glimpses  of  the  Russian  Empire     .      .  64 

The  Prime  Minister  of  Korea  and  His  Official  Fan     .      .  72 

The  Postmaster  of  Seoul  in  Korean  Street  Dress     ...  72 

The  Emperor  of  Korea  in  Foreign  Military  Dress  ...  78 

Tomb  of  the  Emperor's  Father 80 

Korean  Method  of  Smoothing  Cloth     .......  82 

Hats  Worn  by  Korean  Peasants 84 

Costume  of  a  Mourner 84 

South  Gate,  Seoul 88 

A  Street  in  Seoul 88 

The  Bund,  Shanghai 100 

A  Street  in  Chinatown,  Shanghai     .      .      .      .      .      .      .  100 


ILLUSTRATIONS  ix 

FACING  PAGE 

A  Chinese  Court  of  Justice 104 

A  Typical  Opium  Den  in  China 104 

The  Emperor  of  China  Sledging  on  the  Lake  in  the  Palace 

Gardens 110 

The  Emperor's  Throne  Room,  Pekin       .      .      .      .      .      .  110 

Crushing  Tea  for  the  Chinese  Market 114 

A  Chinese  Pagoda  on  the  Yangtze  River 122 

Bound  Feet  Uncovered 126 

Beauty  and  the  Beast         132 

Boat  Life  on  the  River,  Bangkok,  Siam 138 

Siamese  Actors 138 

A  "  Wat,"  or  Temple,  Siam    ...........  140 

The  King  and  Queen  of  Siam 142 

A  Siamese  Woman 144 

The  Sacred  White  Elephant  of  Siam 146 

The  Raffles  Museum,  Singapore 148 

Javanese  Men  in  Native  Sarongs        .......  156 

Gathering  Cocoanuts  in  Java 164 

The  Great  Temple  of  Boro-Boedor     .......  172 

Sculptures  on  the  Galleries  of  Boro-Boedor       .      .      .      .  176 

A  Buddha,  from   Boro-Boedor 180 

The  Temples  of  Brambanan .192 

Sculptures  on  the  Galleries  of  Brambanan     .      ...      .      .  1Q2 

A   Japanese    Street   Dancer 202 

The  Great  Bridge  over  the  Red  River,  Hanoi     ....  220 

The  Railroad  Station,  Hanoi 220 

The  Palace  Central,  Hanoi 226 

An  Annamese  Woman  of  Tonkin .232 

A  Chinese  Woman  of  the  Better  Class     .      ....      .,  238 

Happy  Valley,  Hongkong 244 

The  Greeting,  Japan 254 

Riksha   Riding 254 

Japanese  Cribs  and  Perambulators .      .  260 

Out  in  a  Storm 260 

Japanese  Tea  House  and  Garden     .      .      .      .             .      .  272 

Geishas  Dancing  to  Samisen  Music 272 

Japanese  Postcard,  Gonikwai  Hotel 280 

A  Japanese  Temple     . 284 

Torii,  or  Temple  Gate       ....:...,     .      .      .      .  284 

Geku  and  Naiku  Temples       .      .     ..,     M     .,     .....  288 


x  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING  PAGE 

The  Sacred  Rocks,  Futami,  Ise 288 

Fujiyama,  The  Sacred  Mountain 294 

The  Emperor  of  Japan 304 

The  Empress  of  Japan 308 

Princess  Kaiulani,  Hawaiian  Islands 318 

Kawaiahao  Church 322 

Funeral  Procession  of  Princess  Kaiulani 322 

Portrait  of  Brigham  Young 330 

Brigham  Young  and  His  Wives 332 

The  Bee  Hive  and  the  Lion  House 334 

The  Mormon  Tabernacle,  Salt  Lake  City 336 

The  Famous  Cliff  House,  San  Francisco 34-0 

The  Seal  Rocks  Opposite  the  Cliff  House 344 

An  American  Indian  of  the  West 348 

""  Grizzly  Giant,"  the  Largest  of  the  California  Big  Trees  352 

General  View  of  the  Yosemite  Valley 356 

The  Bridal  Veil  Falls 358 

The  Yosemite  Falls 360 

Glacier  Point  and  Half  Dome,  Yosemite  Valley     .      .      .  362 

Cloud's   Rest   Trail 364 

Chicago  in  1852— Wolf's  Point 366 


FOREWORD 

TN  placing  this  book  before  the  reading  public  of 
America  and  the  English  speaking  people  of 
foreign  lands,  we  do  so  with  a  just  appreciation  of  its 
great  value  as  a  record  of  one  of  the  most  unusual 
journeys  ever  undertaken  by  any  one,  as  well  as  a 
volume  of  accurate  information  concerning  parts  of 
the  earth  little  frequented  by  tourists. 

To  the  author  belongs  the  distinction  of  being  the 
first  woman  to  have  traveled  over  the  Trans-Siberian 
Railway  alone,  and  the  first  woman  to  visit  the  more 
remote  parts  of  South  America  unattended  by  even  a 
guide.  Miss  Miller  always  travels  alone,  and  many 
times  she  has  been  for  months  by  herself  in  countries 
where  she  could  not  speak  the  language ;  yet  she  never 
met  with  an  accident  nor  missed  a  train. 

Five  times  she  has  encircled  the  globe  by  devious 
routes,  some  of  her  journeys  occupying  two  and  three 
years ;  and  there  is  no  continent  and  scarcely  a  country 
or  group  of  islands  of  any  importance  she  has  not 
seen.  The  journey,  of  which  this  volume  is  a  descrip- 
tive record,  began  at  Chicago,  June  16th,  1902,  and 
continued  through  New  York,  Bremen,  Berlin,  Alex- 
androv,  Warsaw,  Moscow,  Irkutsk,  Stretensk, 
Blagovchensk,  Habarovsk,  Vladivostok,  Korea, 


xii  FOREWORD 

Chefoo,  Shanghai,  Hongkong,  Siam,  Singapore, 
Java,  French  Indo-China,  Swatow,  Amoy,  Foochow, 
Japan,  Honolulu,  San  Francisco,  and  back  again  to 
Chicago. 

From  this  list  it  will  be  seen  that  the  title  "  The 
Newest  Way  Round  the  World,"  is  not  fanciful,  but 
literally  true.  The  record  of  it  is  not  put  forth  as  a 
dry  analytical  treatise  on  the  countries  visited,  their 
ethnology,  economics  and  politics,  but  rather  as  an  , 
entertaining  and  instructive  narrative  of  what  this 
distinguished  traveler  saw  and  experienced — a  narra- 
tive made  doubly  valuable  by  the  reproduction  of 
photographs  gathered  by  the  author  in  all  parts  of  the 
world. 

THE  PUBLISHERS. 


The  Newest  Way  Round 
the  World 

CHAPTER    ONE 

EASTWARD    BOUND 

T)  EPEATED  attempts  to  analyze  my  feeling  of 
^  ^  dread  in  undertaking  a  Russian  trip  have  not 
been  successful,  and  I  am  unable  to  say  whether  it  is 
due  to  the  immensity  of  the  territory  or  to  the  military 
aspect  of  the  country,  or  whether  it  is  an  overwhelm- 
ing sense  of  the  unspellable,  unpronounceable  words. 
Whatever  the  cause,  the  feeling  is  universal  among 
tourists. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  laxity  which  prevails 
among  the  higher  classes,  especially  in  regard  to  the 
marriage  law,  strengthens  this  impression.  Com- 
paratively few  go  to  church  for  the  marriage  cere- 
mony and  their  contract  lasts  merely  as  long  as  it  is 
agreeable.  The  divorce  laws  are  extremely  stringent ; 
a  man  after  being  divorced  still  owns  his  wife  and  can 
take  her  from  any  country,  while  the  same  is  true  if 
the  wife  obtains  the  divorce.  The  offspring  of  these 
unions  generally  go  to  the  Foundlings'  Home,  and  in 
consequence,  so  dense  an  ignorance  prevails  among 
the  lower  classes  that  only  seventy-five  per  cent,  can 
read  or  even  know  there  is  a  country  outside  of  Russia. 

As  a  preliminary  to  a  Russian  trip  the  first  step  is 


16         NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

I 

to  obtain  a  passport  and  have  it  vised  by  the  Russian 
Consul.  This  formality  having  been  accomplished, 
a  palatial  train  on  the  Michigan  Central  bore  us  to 
New  York,  where  we  took  one  of  the  largest  trans- 
ports of  the  German  Lloyds  line.  Many  years  of 
travel  have  proved  the  big  transports  superior  to  the 
fast  steamers,  because  they  move  so  steadily;  indeed, 
the  motion  is  almost  imperceptible. 

Although  we  embarked  in  a  pouring  rain,  the  ardor 
of  the  passengers  was  but  little  dampened  as,  with  the 
blare  of  two  brass  bands,  we  set  sail. 

Our  departure  was  cheered  by  a  pleasant  episode  in 
the  form  of  an  ovation  tendered  to  a  fellow  traveler, 
Madame  Cappiani,  formerly  a  well-known  opera 
singer  and  now  one  of  the  best  vocal  teachers  of  New 
York.  A  number  of  her  pupils  had  come  down  to  see 
her  off  and  after  rendering  selections  from  six  or 
seven  operas,  they  presented  her  with  a  beautiful 
diamond  ring. 

There  was  a  very  amusing  incident  in  connection 
with  the  Captain's  dinner  which  was  given  to  the  pas- 
sengers just  before  we  reached  Southampton.  The 
dinner  was  a  really  faultless  performance  and  one  of 
the  passengers  toasted  our  host  in  a  most  compli- 
mentary way,  thanking  him  for  the  care  he  had  exer- 
cised over  us  while  we  slept.  Being  unable  to  be 
present,  as  the  ship  was  so  near  port,  and  wishing  to 
express  his  appreciation  of  the  courtesy  with  graceful 
ceremony,  the  captain  selected  a  passenger  who 


EASTWARD    BOUND  17 

strongly  resembled  him,  dressed  him  in  his  regimentals 
and  sent  him  to  thank  the  guests  who  were  still  seated 
at  the  table.  The  supposed  captain  was  at  first 
greeted  with  cheers,  but  when  his  identity  was  discov- 
ered he  was  hooted  from  the  room. 

About  two  hundred  disembarked  at  Southampton. 
We  had  hoped  to  see  the  naval  parade  in  honor  of  the 
coronation  of  King  Edward  VII,  which  was 
scheduled  to  take  place  at  that  time,  but  the  ceremony 
was  postponed  on  account  of  the  King's  illness. 
However,  there  were  about  fifty  men-of-war  of 
various  nations  in  the  harbor,  an  inspiring  spectacle 
one  witnesses  but  once  in  a  lifetime,  and  each  played 
its  own  national  air  as  we  passed. 

Twenty-four  hours  later  we  landed  at  Bremer- 
haven,  where  the  lack  of  system  which  characterizes 
the  handling  of  baggage  in  foreign  cities  was  amply 
demonstrated.  The  special  train  which  was  to  carry 
us  to  Bremen  was  not  in  evidence  nor  did  it  appear 
for  fully  three  hours,  and  to  add  to  our  discomfort 
the  baggage  had  been  dumped  from  the  trucks  in  a 
state  of  utter  chaos  that  added  greatly  to  the  unneces- 
sary confusion.  When  we  finally  reached  Bremen 
at  1  A.  M.f  there  were  no  porters  and  no  conveyances 
to  the  hotels.  After  some  time  six  men  were  sum- 
moned and  though  I  was  fortunate  in  securing  the 
services  of  one  of  them,  it  was  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning  before  I  was  able  to  retire. 

I  have  never  visited  Europe  without  experiencing 


18         NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

upon  landing,  a  sense  of  oppression  and  sadness  at 
the  ever  present  atmosphere  of  war  as  evidenced  by 
the  military  aspect.  It  is  soldiers  everywhere;  the 
only  difference  between  the  soldiers  of  the  different 
countries  being  their  uniforms  and  flags.  The  more 
civilized  the  country  the  larger  the  standing  army; 
from  which  it  would  seem  that  civilization  does  not 
foster  peace.  Yet,  in  America,  I  never  saw  a  soldier 
until  I  was  a  woman  grown. 

But  to  return  to  Bremen,  a  beautiful  city,  and,  at 
the  time  of  my  visit  in  July,  specially  charming  and 
fragrant  with  flowers.  It  is  a  very  old  town  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Weser,  with  a  beautiful  park  run- 
ning through  it  and  many  places  of  interest.  Of 
them  all,  however,  none  proved  so  interesting  as  the 
old  cathedral  built  in  the  llth  century,  famous  for  its 
mummies  found  in  the  Bleikeller  or  lead  cellar,  which 
are  supposed  to  have  been  preserved  by  the  peculiar 
atmosphere  of  the  cellar,  through  the  action  of  the 
quantity  of  lead  used  in  constructing  the  tower  and 
roof. 

The  Rathaus,  or  City  Hall,  is  a  fine  old  Gothic 
structure  built  in  the  early  part  of  the  15th  century. 
It  contains  the  famous  Rathskeller  with  its  immense 
oaken  hogsheads  that  hold  from  24,000  to  30,000 
bottles  of  wine  and  bear  on  their  heads  the  old  coat  of 
arms  of  Bremen.  Though  the  place  is  now  used  as  a 
wine  restaurant  there  are  a  number  of  rooms  not 
shown  to  the  public,  each  with  some  pecularity  of  its 


A  Vicic  of  Bremen 


EASTWARD    BOUND  19 

own.  There  are  many  lovely  parks  and  museums  in 
Bremen.  It  has  a  remarkable  government,  presided 
over  by  two  mayors,  each  with  an  independent  admin- 
istration of  his  own.  Bremen  is  six  hours'  ride  from 
Berlin.  As  we  journeyed  there  the  only  interesting 
things  we  saw  were  the  famous  peddling  wagons  of 
Germany,  a  sort  of  general  merchandise  store  on 
wheels. 

We  found  Berlin  very  much  improved  since  our 
last  visit ;  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  beautiful  cities 
in  the  world.  Among  the  new  buildings  is  the 
memorial  church  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse  near 
the  Zoological  Gardens,  that  was  dedicated  in  1895 
and  cost  5,000,000  marks.  The  Reichstagsgebaude, 
one  of  the  most  magnificent  buildings  in  Berlin,  is 
also  new,  having  been  dedicated  by  the  present 
"  Emperor  in  the  same  year. 

The  Hohenzollern  Museum,  presented  to  the  city 
by  the  Empress  Frederick,  is  most  interesting,  but  it 
would  be  impossible  in  a  limited  space  to  give  any  idea 
of  it,  or  of  the  other  beautiful  structures  to  be  seen  in 
Berlin.  It  is  a  very  progressive  city  and  growing 
larger  every  day;  and  the  enterprise  and  "  go-ahead- 
ness  "  of  the  present  Emperor  are  seen  on  every  side. 

At  seven  o'clock  one  evening  we  left  Berlin  at  the 
Frederickstrasse  Station  en  route  for  Moscow.  It 
was  a  regular  German  express  train  the  conductor  of 
which  was  kind  enough  to  go  through  the  car  and  ad- 
vise us  to  go  to  bed,  as  it  would  be  morning  before  we 


20         NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

reached  the  Russian  border;  but  to  my  surprise  we 
were  scarcely  in  bed  before  we  were  told  that  the  next 
station  would  be  Alexandrov,  and  that  our  baggage 
must  be  examined.  At  the  station  a  customs  house 
officer  came  on  board  and  examined  our  passports ;  the 
porters  then  carried  our  baggage  to  the  customs  house, 
the  doors  were  locked  and  guarded  by  soldiers  and  we 
were  imprisoned  there  for  three  hours  while  our  bag- 
gage was  being  examined  and  turned  over  and  over. 
One  of  the  officers  made  a  strenuous  effort  to  read  an 
English  book  which  he  found  in  my  trunk  and  a  new" 
gown  packed  at  the  top  was  pounced  upon  as  evidence 
that  I  was  an  importer  going  to  Moscow  to  sell  cloth- 
ing. I  expressed  myself  in  good  strong  English, — 
I  could  not  speak  Russian, — and  my  eloquence  seemed 
to  have  a  salutary  effect,  for  they  left  me  alone  after 
that. 

In  Berlin  I  had  been  .told  that  we  would  change  for 
the  Russian  railroad  at  Warsaw.  The  change  was 
made,  however,  at  a  station  called  Blassa,  some  twenty 
miles  beyond.  A  train  was  waiting  for  us  and  the 
first  class  passengers  were  transferred  to  a  Russian 
car  of  very  comfortable  build,  with  a  corridor  running 
along  one  side  of  it.  There  was  a  dining  car  where 
meals  were  cooked  and  served  in  true  Russian  style, 
and  our  menu  consisted  of  coffee,  bread  and  butter 
for  breakfast,  two  courses  for  luncheon  (generally 
boiled  meat  followed  by  an  omelet  and  coffee),  while 
dinner  consisted  of  four  courses, — soup,  beef,  fish  and 


o 


chicken,  with  dessert  and  coffee.  The  car  was  divided 
into  two  compartments  so  those  who  smoked  could  eat 
apart  from  those  who  did  not.  Later  in  my  experi- 
ence I  had  reason  to  wish  that  the  Siberian  dining  car 
had  been  arranged  in  the  same  manner. 

Besides  myself  the  only  Americans  on  the  train  were 
a  bridal  couple  from  Atlanta,  Georgia,  who  told  me 
they  had  studied  the  different  languages  for  many 
years  preparatory  to  their  European  trip.  Thus  far 
they  had  progressed  on  their  journey  only  from 
Southampton  to  the  point  of  which  I  speak;  neverthe- 
less they  continued  to  make  themselves,  and  everyone 
else,  miserable  by  their  complaints  of  the  inconven- 
ience of  Russian  travel,  especially  bewailing  the  im- 
perfections of  the  dining  car.  They  expressed  sur- 
prise that  the  Russians  should  have  the  audacity  to 
invite  them  to  such  a  table,  and  ostentatiously  pro- 
ceeded to  wash  and  wipe  up  the  dishes  with  their  hand- 
kerchiefs, before  they  commenced  to  eat.  They 
announced  that  they  had  intended  to  make  a  tour  of 
the  world,  beginning  with  the  Siberian  route,  but  had 
determined  to  take  the  first  ship  home  from  Bremen 
and  never  would  they  leave  their  country  again.  In 
fact,  they  "  would  rather  travel  in  an  American  cattle 
train  than  under  such  conditions,"  and  all  this  after 
years  of  preparation,  while  I  felt  I  was  traveling  like 
a  merchant  prince  in  comparison  with  inconveniences 
experienced  elsewhere. 

The  country  through  which  we  passed  was  not  very 


22         NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

rich  and  the  wheat  and  other  cereals  stood  poorly  on 
the  ground.  The  villages  consisted  of  small,  window- 
less  houses,  thatched  with  straw,  and  in  the  midst  of 
all  their  squalor  one  could  see  the  inevitable  Greek 
church  painted  with  a  green  roof;  indeed  there  is  just 
such  a  church  in  every  village,  and  very  imposing  it 
looks  compared  with  its  miserable  surroundings. 

The  people  were  evidently  the  poorest  type  of 
Russian  peasants.  I  was  informed  that  many  of 
them  had  never  tasted  a  piece  of  white  bread  and  that 
cabbage  soup  was  a  luxury  seldom  realized.  They 
came  to  the  railroad  stations  peddling  sour  milk  and 
mushrooms  which  were  readily  bought  by  the  Russian 
passengers. 


CHAPTER   TWO 

MOSCOW,    THE    HOLY    CITY 

A  FTER  a  long  and  tedious  journey,  we  arrived  at 
"^^  Moscow  on  the  tenth  of  July,  according  to  our 
way  of  reckoning,  or  the  twenty-ninth  of  June,  Rus- 
sian style,  for  they  still  use  the  old  method  of  compu- 
tation there  that  makes  a  difference  of  thirteen  days 
between  the  two  calendars.  It  had  been  raining  for 
weeks  and  the  streets  were  covered  with  mud  and 
water,  for  Moscow  is  one  of  the  worst  paved  cities  in 
the  world,  and,  as  the  hotels  were  two  miles  from  the 
station,  our  ride  to  the  hostelry  was  anything  but 
pleasant. 

Our  carriage  was  a  Russian  drosky  and  our  driver 
was  attired  in  the  dress  worn  by  all  public  coachmen, 
a  long  blue  coat  reaching  to  the  ground,  a  red  belt 
with  a  flat,  low  crown,  black  oil  cloth  hat  dipping  in 
the  front  and  back.  These  coachmen's  coats  are  made 
all  of  one  size,  and  in  consequence,  the  small  men  are 
obliged  to  pad  themselves  to  fill  it  up,  and  this  gives 
them  a  fat,  rotund  appearance.  They  cut  their  hair 
square  at  the  neck  and  wear  the  full  beard  required 
by  law.  Russian  coachmen  drive  very  fast.  Few  of 
them  can  read  or  write,  but  they  are  all  very  religious. 
Our  driver  stopped  ten  times  in  our  two  mile  drive 


23 


24         NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

from  the  station  to  cross  himself  and  say  a  prayer  be- 
fore the  churches  and  shrines. 

We  found  Moscow  much  improved  since  our  last 
visit  in  1895.  Many  new  buildings  had  been  put  up, 
among  them  three  new  banks,  one  of  which  is  called 
the  American  Bank,  but  it  is  run  by  a  lot  of  natural- 
ized Jews  from  America.  There  was  a  marked  im- 
provement too,  in  the  hotels  of  Moscow,  for  the 
Siberian  route  compels  a  stop  and  change  of  cars  at 
this  point. 

The  Czar  has  tried  to  make  the  city  one  of  the  most 
attractive  in  the  world;  he  intends  to  move  all  the 
museums  there  as  soon  as  the  buildings  can  be  com- 
pleted. Three  months  in  each  year  His  Majesty 
spends  in  Moscow,  a  thing  that  had  not  been  done 
by  other  Czars  in  years.  I  am  told  that  his  royal 
father  never  entered  the  city  after  his  coronation, 

Moscow  has  a  population  of  1,360,000  people. 
There  are  460  churches,  900  chapels  and  29  convents, 
18  of  which  are  for  women  and  11  for  men.  It  is  cer- 
tainly one  of  the  most  religious  cities  in  the  world;  I 
know  of  no  other  place,  unless  it  is  South  America, 
where  the  people  are  so  constantly  blessing  and  cross- 
ing themselves  as  they  do  in  Moscow. 

The  city  is  built  on  a  hundred  hills,  and  its  countless 
domes  and  spires  with  their  curious  shapes  and  color- 
ings of  blue,  green  and  gold,  make  it  resemble  greatly 
the  cities  of  Turkey  and  Egypt.  The  greatest  attrac- 
tion, however,  and  one  of  its  most  beautiful  sights, 


Russian  Sleigh  and  Drosky 


25 

is  the  Kremlin,  with  its  wonderful  coloring,  its  old 
walls  and  its  holy  Gate  of  the  Redeemer,  over  which 
hangs  a  portrait  of  the  ikon  (or  Virgin)  who,  it  is 
thought,  saved  the  city  from  the  bombardment  of 
Napoleon.  What  history  this  ikon  could  unfold 
could  she  only  open  her  mouth!  A  policeman  is 
stationed  at  this  gate  to  see  that  every  one  who  passes 
through  it  takes  off  his  hat. 

Near  at  hand  is  the  great  bell,  famous  the  world 
over  as  being  the  largest  in  existence.  It  weighs 
over  two  hundred  tons  and  was  broken  when  taken 
from  the  mold.  It  was  not  made  to  ring,  however, 
for  the  gold  and  silver  necessary  to  produce  sound 
were  omitted  in  its  manufacture.  This  dumb  and 
voiceless  bell  recalls,  by  force  of  contrast,  the  big  bell 
of  Mongoon  in  Burmah,  the  second  largest  in  the 
world.  Thirty  persons  can  stand  under  its  base  while 
its  sound,  because  of  the  great  quantity  of  gold  and 
silver  it  contains,  is  most  musical  and  can  be  heard  for 
many  miles. 

But  to  return  to  the  Kremlin.  A  fitting  com- 
panion to  the  big  bell  is  the  Great  Czar's  cannon,  cast 
at  the  same  time  and,  like  the  bell,  made  only  for 
show;  and  a  beautiful  piece  of  work  it  is.  Here  are 
also  the  cannon  taken  from  Napoleon,  and  the  famous 
statue  of  Alexander  the  Third.  The  finest  view  of 
the  Kremlin  is  obtained  from  the  Kamenny  bridge 
over  the  river  Moskva.  The  tower  of  Ivan  Velike, 
near  which  stands  the  big  bell,  has  an  interesting 


26        NEWEST   WAY   ROUND   THE   WORLD 

museum  containing  the  robes  of  the  patriarchs,  and 
from  its  summit  there  is  a  fine  view  of  the  surround- 
ing country. 

Not  far  from  here  is  the  Cathedral  of  the  Assump- 
tion, where  all  the  czars  since  Peter  the  Great  have 
been  crowned.  When  I  visited  this  church,  just  be- 
fore the  coronation  of  the  present  Czar,  the  walls 
within  and  the  domes  without  were  being  covered  with 
gold  and  the  building  is  still  magnificent  with  this 
shining  metal.  At  the  time  of  which  I  speak  I  stood 
upon  the  spot  where  the  Czars  are  crowned ;  or  rather 
where  they  crown  themselves,  for  no  one  is  considered 
exalted  enough  to  place  a  crown  on  a  Czar's  head. 
Now,  one  is  not  even  allowed  to  look  upon  the  spot,  it 
is  considered  so  sacred. 

The  Assumption  contains  the  tombs  of  the  patri- 
archs, the  first  rulers  of  Russia.  The  ikon  in  this 
church  has  the  most  magnificent  crown  of  any  in 
Russia,  a  crown  that  cost  over  2,000,000  rubles.  The 
ikon  herself  is  a  miserable  black  daub.  I  was  assured 
that  none  of  the  ikons  are  painted  by  human  hands; 
they  all  appear  miraculously  upon  the  canvas,  thereby 
forcing  one  to  the  irreverent  conclusion  that  the 
celestial  artist  cannot  be  a  master. 

Near  the  Assumption  is  the  Church  of  St.  Michael, 
with  its  tombs  of  the  first  Czars  of  the  Romanoffs,  and 
the  treasury,  with  its  collection  of  all  the  magnificent 
things  once  the  property  of  former  rulers.  Indeed, 
the  mind  is  appalled  at  the  array  of  splendor  and  it  is 


The  Great  Czar's  Cannon 
Vieu'S  of  Moscow 


MOSCOW,    THE    HOLY    CITY  27 

impossible  to  single  out  or  particularize  when  each 
article  would  be  a  theme  for  a  chapter.  Another  of 
the  sights  of  Moscow  is  the  old  Romanoff  palace,  witK 
its  strange  coloring,  its  low  pointed  ceilings  and  its 
small  windows. 

Of  the  many  churches  in  Moscow  there  is  none  more 
noticeable  than  St.  Basil's,  owing  to  the  peculiar  con- 
tour of  its  domes  and  its  many  little  chapels  with  low 
pointed  ceilings.  It  was  built  in  the  sixteenth  century 
for  Ivan  the  Terrible,  during  whose  reign  Siberia  be- 
came a  Russian  possession,  and  it  was  one  of  the  few 
buildings  that  escaped  when  Napoleon  bombarded  the 
city. 

The  Church  of  Our  Saviour  is  the  finest  of  the  new 
sacred  edifices.  It  stands  on  a  hill  and  can  be  seen 
from  all  over  the  city.  It  is  said  to  have  cost  more 
than  any  other  church  in  Russia.  The  interior  is 
decorated  with  immense  oil  paintings,  the  work  of 
Verestchagin,  at  a  cost  of  50,000  rubles  each. 

One  of  the  never  changing  sights  and  probably 
one  of  the  saddest  in  the  world,  is  what  is  called  the 
Thieves'  Market  in  Moscow.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
it  is  a  place  where  the  very  poor,  those  who  are  out  of 
work,  congregate,  pathetically  waiting  for  some  one 
to  hire  them.  Most  of  them  have  a  long  time  to  wait 
for  I  found  two  or  three  hundred  there,  about  as  many 
as  were  there  when  I  last  visited  Russia,  five  years 
before.  There  they  stood  in  the  pouring  rain,  their 
only  rations  being  some  black  bread  and  water  fur- 


28        NEWEST   WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

nished  by  a  neighboring  convent,  which  also  tried  to 
shelter  them,  but  only  a  few  could  be  accommodated. 

I  drove  out  of  the  city  to  the  old  convent  of  St. 
Simon  to  see  the  accumulation  of  magnificent  robes 
worn  by  the  priests  of  Russia  eight  hundred  years  ago. 
For  over  two  hours  two  priests  were  engaged  in 
spreading  before  me  these  splendid  garments;  won- 
derful, priestly  hats,  centuries  old,  the  remarkable 
enameling  of  which  jewelers  from  all  over  the  world 
have  come  to  examine,  but  it  is  a  lost  art  and  cannot 
be  reproduced. 

At  this  convent  there  are  half  a  dozen  ikons  with 
magnificent  jeweled  crowns.  The  convent  was  un- 
dergoing extensive  repairs  at  the  time,  making  it 
necessary  to  remove  the  treasures  to  another  part  of 
the  building  which  was  quite  insecure.  I  asked  the 
priest  if  he  was  not  afraid  to  have  so  much  wealth  in 
so  poor  a  building.  He  was  greatly  surprised  and 
replied  that  there  was  not  a  man,  woman  nor  child  in 
Russia,  however  destitute,  that  would  touch  them  for 
they  were  as  sacred  as  the  Saviour  himself. 

Another  point  of  great  interest  in  Moscow  is  the 
Sparrow  Hills,  three  hours'  drive  from  the  city,  cele- 
brated as  the  place  where  Napoleon  spent  the  night 
before  he  entered  the  city  bringing  fire  and  desolation 
with  him.  On  a  clear  day  the  view  from  these  hills 
is  glorious.  Moscow  with  its  many  domes  sparkling 
in  the  sunlight,  lies  before  you,  and  the  Kremlin's  red 
walls  and  multitudinous  towers  are  distinctly  visible. 


MOSCOW,    THE    HOLY    CITY  29 

In  the  old  part  of  Moscow,  or  what  is  called  the 
Chinese  town,  there  are  many  old  buildings,  among 
which  is  the  palace  of  the  first  Czar,  Michael  Roman- 
off. It  is  a  queer  little  building  with  its  small  rooms, 
low,  peculiarly  shaped  ceiling  and  strange  colorings. 
Some  of  the  clothing  and  other  belongings  of  this 
Czar  are  exhibited  there. 

It  may  be  proper  to  state  in  this  connection  that 
this  part  of  the  city,  though  called  the  Chinese  town, 
is  not  and,  never  was,  the  residence  of  Chinamen. 
After  the  wall  was  built  it  was  thought  to  resemble  a 
Chinese  wall,  and  so  it  was  that  the  name  came  to  be 
applied  to  that  quarter.  I  know  of  no  large  city 
where  there  are  so  few  Chinamen;  there  are  only  a 
few  in  business  as  tea  importers. 

In  the  many  museums  of  Moscow  I  saw  nothing 
more  curious  than  an  iron  cage  standing  at  the  top  of 
the  stairway  in  the  Romanoff  museum.  This  cage  is 
about  two  feet  square  by  six  feet  high,  and  when  in 
use  was  chained  securely  to  the  wall.  The  conductor 
of  the  museum  informed  me  that  it  had  been  used  by 
the  royal  family  as  a  means  of  punishment  for  their 
servants,  and  that  it  was  so  used  less  than  forty  years 
ago.  The  unfortunate  victim  was  made  to  stand  in 
it  for  days  and  it  was  impossibe  for  him  to  change  his 
position;  his  sufferings  were  too  terrible  to  contem- 
plate. 

Of  all  the  ikons  there  is  none  so  sought  after  as 
the  one  called  St.  Iberia,  the  great  ikon  healer  that 


80        NEWEST   WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

visits  thousands  of  poor  sufferers  every  year.  At  ten 
o'clock  every  morning  in  the  year  a  high  mass  is  said 
for  this  lady,  who  is  in  a  magnificent  frame  with  a 
crown  set  with  all  kinds  of  precious  stones  on  her  head. 
After  the  mass  a  large  black  coach  draws  up  before 
the  door  with  four  black  horses  and  a  coachman  in 
livery,  and  two  bags  of  cotton  saturated  with  holy  oil 
suspended  from  each  corner  of  the  frame.  The  ikon 
is  deposited  in  the  coach  which  then  starts  on  its 
rounds. 

Those  who  wish  some  of  the  cotton  send  in  their 
names,  and  as  they  have  to  pay  well  for  this  sanc- 
tified bit  of  commodity,  there  is  a  great  revenue  con- 
stantly coming  in.  I  asked  how  long  this  ikon  had 
been  in  the  healing  business  and  was  told  that  no  one 
knew;  she  was  supposed  to  be  of  Spanish  origin  and 
brought  centuries  ago  to  Russia. 

There  are  few  American  goods  sold  in  Moscow.  I 
was  told  there  were  some  American  locomotives  used 
on  the  railroads  but  I  did  not  see  them.  The  only 
thing  I  found  from  America  was  the  new  riding 
gallery,  presented  by  the  Governor  General  of  Mos- 
cow. It  is  said  to  hold  from  15,000  to  20,000  people 
and  is  used  in  the  summer  as  a  bicycle  school,  no  one 
being  allowed  to  ride  a  wheel  in  Moscow  unless  he  is 
a  graduate  from  this  school  and  carries  its  diploma  in 
his  pocket.  Without  this  choice  document  he  will  be 
put  in  prison  and  fined  heavily.  In  the  winter  time 
the  building  is  used  as  a  drilling  place  for  soldiers. 


*  ^ 

<->    ^ 


MOSCOW,   THE    HOLY    CITY  31 

The  iron  work  was  made  in  Chicago  and  the  building 
was  constructed  entirely  after  American  ideas. 

I  learned  that  a  great  many  bales  of  American  cot- 
ton were  shipped  into  Russia  to  supply  the  numerous 
cotton  manufacturers  of  Moscow.  There  is  only  one 
car  line  in  the  town  and  this  is  run  by  horses,  for  it  is 
deemed  unsafe  to  use  electricity  in  the  city,  though 
there  are  electric  cars  in  the  suburbs. 

In  order  to  see  the  life  of  Moscow  one  must  visit 
the  great  park  situated  not  far  from  the  city.  Here 
is  the  great  race  course  of  Russia,  and  here  it  is  that 
the  wealthy  Russians  go  to  enjoy  themselves,  staying 
there  all  night  and  often  for  days,  eating,  drinking 
and  gambling. 

The  shops  of  Moscow  are  disappointing.  One  sees 
no  such  goods  as  at  Paris  or  at  St.  Petersburg,  which 
is  the  real  capital  of  Russia,  for  the  Czar  spends  most 
of  his  time  there,  and  all  the  style  and  splendor  of 
Russia  are  to  be  found  in  that  city. 

I  was  unfortunate  in  the  time  of  my  arrival  in 
Russia,  for  two  holidays  coming  in  succession  meant 
that  I  could  attend  to  no  business  in  connection  with 
my  Siberian  trip  until  they  had  passed.  Of  course, 
I  tried  to  obtain  information  at  the  hotel,  but  failed 
utterly.  There  was  not  even  a  time  table  there.  I 
thought  my  best  plan  would  be  to  go  to  the  head 
officials  of  the  road  for  information  regarding  its 
completeness,  but  even  this  failed  me ;  for  after  wait- 
ing a  long  time  I  was  ushered  into  the  presence  of  a 


32        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

man  six  feet  in  height,  with  a  uniform  that  denoted 
his  high  rank  and  a  cold  unbending  demeanor  that 
seemed  to  say  "  Why  do  you  trouble  me?  "  When  I 
had  stated  my  errand,  he  rose  to  his  feet  and  with  a 
magnificent  wave  of  his  hand  and  an  ominous  shake  of 
his  head,  informed  me  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the 
road  beyond  Irkutsk,  as  that  was  the  end  of  the 
Russian  part  of  the  great  Siberian  Railway.  How- 
ever, he  referred  me  to  the  office  of  the  Internationale 
des  Wagon  Lits  Sleeping  Car  Company,  which  I 
found  was  really  the  place  to  go  for  information  and 
tickets. 

At  this  office  good  English  is  spoken  and  one  can 
obtain  a  time  table  in  French,  which  is  easily  de- 
ciphered, but  even  there  I  could  obtain  no  informa- 
tion regarding  the  completeness  of  the  road  beyond 
Irkutsk.  However,  the  time  table  they  gave  me  in- 
cluded the  whole  road  and  it  seemed  to  fit  together  so 
nicely  I  thought  I  should  have  no  trouble.  It  was 
somewhat  discouraging  to  meet  with  such  perfect 
silence  on  the  part  of  high  officials,  but  I  had  learned 
through  many  years  of  travel  not  to  be  discouraged 
by  adverse  reports,  even  though  I  was  going  around 
the  world  by  way  of  a  railroad  not  yet  completed. 
They  were  kind  enough  to  tell  me  at  the  railroad 
offices  that  I  was  the  first  American  woman  to  go  over 
the  Great  Siberian  Railway  alone,  and  that  they  knew 
of  no  Russian  woman  who  had  gone  over  the  route 
unattended. 


MOSCOW,    THE    HOLY    CITY  33 

From  Moscow  to  Irkutsk  there  are  three  express 
trains  weekly  of  the  Jnternationale  des  Wagon  Lits 
Sleeping  Car  Company,  built  after  the  regular 
Russian  style.  There  is  also  a  daily  train  of  the 
Russian  build  which  makes  the  same  trip,  but  it  runs 
very  slowly,  and  carries  first,  second  and  third  class 
passengers  but  no  dining  cars. 


CHAPTER   THREE 

THE    GREAT    SIBERIAN    RAILWAY 

JULY  19th  I  left  the  hotel  at  8  P.  M.  for  the  Trans- 
**  Siberian  Railway  station,  which  I  found  to  be  a 
large  well-appointed  building.  As  I  already  had  my 
ticket,  the  next  step  was  to  have  my  baggage  regis- 
tered and  weighed.  The  first  class  passengers  are 
allowed  about  thirty-six  pounds  free;  all  over  that 
must  be  paid  for.  Arrangements  having  been  com- 
pleted I  started  for  the  train,  the  last  one  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  station,  and  found  it  easily  distinguish- 
able from  all  the  others,  for  it  was  a  blaze  of  light. 
All  the  express  trains  are  composed  of  one  first  class, 
two  second  class  coaches,  dining  car  and  baggage  car, 
all  lighted  by  electricity.  It  was  the  regular  Russian 
Express,  divided  into  compartments,  with  a  corridor 
running  along  one  side  of  the  car. 

In  the  first  class  coach  the  compartments  are  so 
arranged  that  they  can  be  occupied  by  only  two  per- 
sons, while  in  the  second  class  coaches  four  can  be 
accommodated  in  each  compartment.  The  dynamos 
that  light  the  train,  the  kitchen,  the  bath  room  and  the 
barber  shop,  are  located  in  the  baggage  car.  The 
library,  with  books  in  German,  French  and  Russian, 
is  in  the  dining  car,  where  there  is  also  a  piano. 

34 


THE    GREAT    SIBERIAN    RAILWAY          35 

As  I  went  through  the  train  I  was  struck  with  the 
amount  of  baggage  in  each  compartment.  It  seems 
the  Russians  are  disposed  to  cheat  the  railroad  out  of 
extra  baggage  charges,  and  in  consequence  they  make 
themselves  very  uncomfortable  by  piling  baggage  in 
every  available  space  in  their  compartments.  Yet 
the  baggage  rates  are  not  high;  on  the  contrary,  I 
know  of  no  other  place  in  the  world  where  they  are  so 
cheap.  My  baggage,  weighing  about  four  hundred 
pounds,  cost  me  for  the  entire  trip  only  twenty  dollars 
of  our  money. 

My  compartment  was  very  clean.  It  was  lighted 
by  electricity  and  there  was  a  drop  light  which  found 
a  resting  place  over  the  window  during  the  day,  while 
at  night  it  could  be  set  on  a  table.  A  very  ingenious 
contrivance  are  these  tables  for  they  are  capable  of  be- 
ing transformed  into  step  ladders. 

As  most  of  the  passengers  had  arrived  I  naturally 
looked  about  me  to  see  who  my  fellow  travellers  were 
to  be.  It  was  evident  that  most  of  them  were  army 
officers,  and  that  they  had  partaken  rather  freely  of 
champagne.  A  large  proportion  of  their  number  was 
in  a  decidedly  happy  state,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
I  had  an  introduction  to  one  of  these  military  men  in  a 
way  that  was  anything  but  pleasant.  On  entering 
the  car  he  mistook  my  apartment  for  his  own  and  fell 
headlong  at  my  feet.  Greatly  startled,  I  ordered  him 
out  of  my  room;  but  the  words  had  scarcely  fallen 
from  my  lips  when  I  heard  a  voice  of  a  woman,  who 


36        NEWEST   WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

spoke  in  Russian  to  the  man  and  immediately  after 
addressed  me  in  good  English.  "  Madame,"  she  ex- 
claimed, "you  are  English.  I  heard  you  speak 
sharply  to  this  officer — I  came  at  once  to  warn  you.  I 
am  sure  he  will  be  able  to  pick  himself  up  directly. 
Be  very  careful  not  to  offend  him,  for  Russians  never 
forgive  insults.  You  are  alone  and  these  men  will  be 
with  you  all  the  way.  You  are  probably  not  aware 
that  it  is  not  considered  good  form  for  a  Russian  to 
leave  home  except  in  a  state  of  intoxication." 

I  was  so  struck  by  the  little  lady  that  I  forgot  the 
officer,  who  managed  to  pull  himself  together  and 
retire.  She  was  dressed  in  a  beautiful  gown  of 
Parisian  make,  a  jaunty  hat  and  little,  high  heeled, 
Parisian  boots.  Her  sprightly  manner,  her  willowy 
form  and  her  use  of  my  mother  tongue,  made  her  ap- 
pear to  me  a  good  angel  sent  by  kind  Providence  to 
conduct  me  through  my  long  journey  over  the  Great 
Siberian  Railway.  Seating  herself  by  my  side  she 
remarked : 

"I  am  so  glad  to  find  another  lady  beside  myself 
in  the  first  class  coach.  I  was  afraid  that  Marie,  my 
maid,  and  I  would  be  the  only  women;  but  then  I 
have  my  two  pets  with  me,  would  you  like  to  see 
them?" 

Before  I  could  answer,  she  gave  a  low  whistle,  and 
with  the  rustle  of  a  chain,  two  dogs  came  bounding  in. 
I  shall  never  forget  the  beautiful  white  creatures,  one 
a  Spitz  and  the  other  a  fox  terrier.  Pointing  to  the 


THE    GREAT    SIBERIAN    RAILWAY          37 

Spitz,  she  said,  "  This  is  my  favorite,  he  is  so  white, 
with  such  a  long  silky  coat.  His  name  is  Tomaska 
Alexandervich.  He  has  won  many  prizes.  I  gave 
$500  in  gold  for  him,  but  that  is  very  little,  for  he  is 
of  the  purest  blood  of  his  kind  in  Russia.  The  fox 
terrier  is  also  a  pure  blood  and  a  prize  winner;  his 
name  it  Tuttu  Mohanovich.  I  am  traveling  them  on 
children's  first  class  tickets." 

The  dogs  made  friends  with  me  at  once  and  jumped 
up  on  the  seat  behind  me.  Just  then  we  heard  the 
station  bell  ring,  then  stop  and  ring  again,  until  there 
were  three  distinct  rings,  from  two  to  three  minutes 
apart,  then  a  loud  whistle  from  the  engine  and  the 
guard  hurried  through  the  car  to  see  that  the  pas- 
sengers were  all  in  their  places.  Another  whistle,  and 
we  rolled  out  of  the  great,  white  station  of  Moscow, 
on  our  way  across  the  vast  domain  of  the  Russian 
Empire. 

As  I  looked  back  to  take  a  last  farewell  of  my  sur- 
roundings, the  scene  before  me  was  indescribable. 
The  last  rays  of  the  setting  sun  still  lingered  in  the 
west  while  an  almost  full  moon  was  rising  in  the  east, 
both  shedding  their  wondrous  light  over  the  gilded 
domes  and  spires  of  old  Moscow;  while  the  air  was 
soft  and  balmy  and  laden  with  the  perfume  of  many 
flowers. 

My  new-made  friend  and  I  sat  long,  watching  the 
fading  landscape,  until  she  turned  to  me  and  said, 
"  To-morrow  we  shall  be  at  Tula  and  Tolstoi  lives  but 


38        NEWEST   WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

a  few  hours'  drive  from  there.  Have  you  ever  visited 
him?" 

"  No,"  I  replied ;  "  that  is  my  only  regret  at  leav- 
ing Russia." 

"  That  is  a  pity,"  she  exclaimed,  "  for  he  is  the 
most  noticeable  figure  in  Russia.  He  is  the  only 
Russian  who  has  dared  to  express  his  thoughts  and 
send  them  broadcast  over  the  Empire,  though  they  are 
not  in  accord  with  the  church  nor  the  government. 
Many  of  his  writings  have  been  suppressed,  and  he 
has  been  excommunicated  because  of  his  liberal  views. 
He  is  what  I  should  call  a  Deist.  You  are  aware  of 
his  peculiarities :  he  differs  so  from  all  other  Russians 
of  his  class,  dressing  in  a  simple  Russian  blouse  and 
even  going  barefoot,  or  wearing  shoes  as  common  as 
those  of  the  poorest  peasant.  He  never  drinks  any 
kind  of  liquor  nor  does  he  smoke;  and  in  appearance 
he  is  precisely  like  the  pictures  you  see  of  him.  When 
you  meet  him  he  greets  you  with  a  warm  clasp  of  the 
hand  and  makes  you  feel  at  once  like  an  old  acquaint- 
ance ;  and  then  his  voice  is  so  soft  and  low,  his  manner 
so  charming,  you  soon  forget  that  you  are  in  the  pres- 
ence of  one  of  the  most  profound  thinkers  and  writers 
of  the  present  day." 

The  guard  now  appeared  to  prepare  the  beds  for 
the  night  and  showed  us  how  to  fasten  our  doors  se- 
curely, by  means  of  a  very  ingenious  catch  which 
allowed  the  air  to  enter  through  an  opening  of  almost 
two  inches  and  yet  prevented  an  intruder  from  fore- 


Count   Tolstoi 
Or  Leo,  the  Son  of  Nicholas 


THE    GREAT    SIBERIAN    RAILWAY  89 

ing  an  entrance  without  breaking  down  the  door  itself. 
I  asked  if  it  were  necessary  always  to  fasten  the  door 
at  night,  and  he  replied  that  all  Russians  lock  their 
doors  and  that  both  men  and  women  always  carry  fire- 
arms. The  revolver  most  in  use,  he  said,  was  one  of 
long  range  which  did  its  work  well,  though  it  often 
hit  a  person  for  whom  the  shot  was  not  intended,  be- 
cause of  the  distance  which  it  drove  the  ball. 

The  English  lady  and  her  dogs  now  took  their  de- 
parture for  the  night.  "Good  night!"  she  said. 
;'  We  shall  be  together  many  days  and  I  will  tell  you 
much  about  Russia  and  its  people." 


CHAPTER   FOUR 

SIBERIA   AND    THE    SIBERIANS 

T  COULD  not  but  notice  how  little  motion  there 
•*•  was  to  the  train  and  how  smooth  the  road  bed  was. 
This  was  particularly  true  of  the  Russian  part  of  the 
road  where  the  time  made  was  about  twenty-five  miles 
an  hour,  and,  as  there  is  a  great  scarcity  of  coal  in 
Russia,  the  engine  was  fired  with  wood  and  kerosene, 
so  there  was  no  disagreeable  smoke.  I  found  some 
difficulty  in  sleeping  at  first,  it  was  so  light.  The  sun 
rose  at  half  past  two  in  the  morning  and  continued  all 
the  way,  for  the  country  through  which  the  railroad 
passes  is  far  to  the  north  and  near  the  Land  of  the 
Midnight  Sun. 

The  road  runs  in  almost  a  straight  line  from  Tula 
across  Russia  to  the  Ural  Mountains.  The  country 
is  a  vast  plain  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  and  resembles 
the  great  American  prairies.  Most  of  the  land  is  well 
cultivated  and  there  were  thousands  of  acres  of  wav- 
ing grain  and  grass  that  were  being  harvested,  but 
there  was  no  hum  from  the  reaping  and  mowing 
machines,  for  the  Russians  have  not  adopted  modern 
methods  of  farming  with  machinery  to  any  extent. 
The  implements  still  in  use  date  back  as  far  as  the 
Russian  Empire.  I  asked  a  Russian  gentleman  why 

40 


SIBERIA    AND    THE    SIBERIANS  41 

the  country  did  not  adopt  modern  farming  machinery, 
and  he  replied  that  Russians  did  not  as  yet  believe  that 
new  methods  were  necessary,  but  when  the  proper 
time  for  them  came,  her  own  inventions  would  as- 
tonish the  world  as  her  railroading  had  done. 

At  every  station  on  the  entire  line  stand  immense 
piles  of  wood.  In  Russia  and  Siberia  there  is  no  com- 
plaint of  the  scarcity  of  this  fuel  such  as  one  hears  in 
other  parts  of  the  world;  indeed  in  many  parts  of  the 
Russian  Empire  it  is  burned  to  get  rid  of  it. 

It  is  hard  to  realize  that  one  is  in  a  country  so  old 
as  Russia,  and  that  it  has  been  settled  for  so  many 
centuries.  It  gives  the  impression  of  a  new  country 
with  huge  forests  that  have  just  begun  to  hear  the 
ring  of  the  woodman's  ax. 

On  entering  the  dining  car  for  my  breakfast  I  was 
invited  to  a  seat  at  the  English  lady's  table.  "  We 
will  have  the  regular  Russian  breakfast,"  she  said. 
"  It  consists  of  stock  and  chi,  mosler,  bulaco,  milaco, 
sucre  and  some  jam  for  our  tea." 

"  I  am  curious  to  see  what  the  waiter  will  bring," 
I  remarked,  "  for  these  names  are  all  new  to  me." 

When  the  breakfast  appeared  I  found  that 
"  stock  "  is  the  glass  from  which  to  drink  the  tea, 
"  chi "  is  the  tea  itself,  "  bulaco  "  is  bread,  "  mosler  "  is 
butter,  while  "  milaco  "  and  "  sucre  "  are  milk  and 
sugar.  This  was  my  first  lesson  in  the  Russian  lan- 
guage and  after  that  I  could  order  my  own  breakfast. 
When  my  tea  was  poured  I  put  into  it  two  teaspoons- 


42        NEWEST   WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

ful  of  jam  and  strange  to  say,  it  was  excellent;  much 
better  than  with  lemon.  The  Russians  use  lemon, 
cognac  brandy  and  jam  in  their  tea,  but  jam  is  con- 
sidered superior  to  the  other  two. 

As  we  sat  at  the  table  the  conversation  turned  on 
our  respective  destinations.  To  our  mutual  pleasure 
we  discovered  we  were  both  bound  for  Vladivostok, 
and  congratulated  ourselves  that  neither  would  have 
to  be  alone  on  the  long  journey.  We  then  introduced 
ourselves. 

"  I  am  Gertrude,  the  daughter  of  Robert,"  said  my 
companion.  "  The  terms  Mr.,  Mrs.  and  Miss  are 
never  used  in  Russia;  instead  you  are  designated  by 
the  first  name  of  your  father  as  his  daughter  or  son  as 
the  case  may  be.  I  am  going  to  join  my  husband, 
Serges  Latkin,  who  has  been  appointed  head  of  the 
customs  in  Manchuria.  He  is  a  Russian  and  I  am 
English.  We  were  married  in  the  church  and  our 
marriage  was  recorded,  but  very  few  Russians  go  to 
the  church  to  be  married ;  they  simply  live  together  as 
long  as  they  are  congenial.  This  may  be  for  a  life- 
time or  it  may  be  for  a  few  months.  The  divorce 
laws  are  to  blame  for  this  to  a  great  degree.  To 
avoid  all  complications  the  power  is  often  taken  out 
of  the  priest's  hands  so  the  marriage  laws  can  be 
regulated  to  please  the  contracting  parties." 

Oar  meal  was  about  finished  and  the  English  lady 
told  the  waiter  to  bring  in  the  "  shot."  I  supposed 
we  were  to  be  served  with  some  ammunition,  the 


Russian  Peasants 


SIBERIA    AND    THE    SIBERIANS  43 

Russians  are  so  addicted  to  carrying  all  kinds  of  fire- 
arms, but  to  my  great  surprise,  I  found  it  was  the 
bill  for  our  breakfast. 

We  found  the  food  on  the  train  of  a  good  quality 
and  cheap,  a  table  d'hote  dinner  of  four  courses  cost- 
ing only  one  ruble,  which  is  sixty  cents  of  our  money. 
The  air  was  so  invigorating  that  we  soon  had  enor- 
mous appetites  and  ate  up  not  only  all  the  food  on 
the  train  but  cleared  out  all  the  provisions  in  the 
restaurants  at  the  stations  along  the  way.  We 
bought  bushels  of  cucumbers  and  strawberries  from 
the  peasants  and  ate  them  between  meals,  paying 
no  attention  to  the  warning  of  the  doctors  that  we 
would  surely  have  the  cholera  when  we  reached  Man- 
churia. 

The  dining  room  was  always  full  of  tobacco  smoke, 
but  this  is  the  case  in  most  foreign  countries  and  one 
has  to  get  used  to  it.  Russians  smoke  continually 
and  puff  after  every  mouthful.  There  were  a  number 
of  doctors  going  to  Manchuria,  and  they  provided 
themselves  with  19,000  cigarettes  to  last  them  through 
their  four  months'  stay ;  but  by  the  wray  the  cigarettes 
vanished  I  am  sure  that  most  of  them  had  been  con- 
sumed before  Manchuria  was  reached. 

I  learned  to  eat  all  the  Russian  dishes,  though  at 
first  I  was  a  little  prejudiced  against  them,  and 
cabbage  soup  with  sour  cream  in  it  grew  to  be  very 
delicious,  while  fish  soup,  with  nearly  a  whole  fish  in 
it,  soon  tasted  extremely  palatable.  Young  pig  with 


sour  cream  gravy  is  not  at  all  bad,  and  then  there 
is  a  rather  mild  but  very  refreshing  drink,  called 
"  quash,"  which  is  made  from  fomented  black  bread, 
and  tastes  like  yeast  or  hop  beer. 

Soon  after  we  started  the  English  lady's  pet  dogs 
became  car  sick.  She  had  not  expected  this  mishap 
and  had  neglected  to  bring  any  remedies  with  her. 
The  railroad  company  has  a  resident  physician  at  al- 
most every  station  for  the  accommodation  of  those  of 
its  patrons  who  may  be  taken  ill  on  the  journey,  but 
it  had  failed  to  be  so  considerate  of  its  first  class  canine 
passengers,  so  it  was  decided  to  try  starvation  as  a 
remedy.  This  worked  like  a  charm  and  in  a  short 
time  the  dogs  were  as  chipper  as  ever  but  they  were 
ravenously  hungry.  Tuttu,  the  fox  terrier,  slipped 
away  from  Marie,  the  maid,  and  seeing  the  dining  car 
door  open  darted  into  it.  Seated  at  one  of  the  tables 
was  a  stiff  old  general  who  looked  as  though  he  had 
never  smiled  in  his  life,  and  who  always  appeared  in 
white  gloves.  The  waiter  had  just  placed  before  him 
a  juicy  steak,  when  suddenly  there  was  a  flash  of  black 
and  white,  and  before  the  astonished  officer  could 
realize  what  had  happened,  the  fox  terrier  had  leaped 
upon  the  table,  seized  the  steak  and  disappeared  with 
his  booty  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  Insulted  dignity 
and  disappointed  appetite  lent  wings  to  the  great 
man's  feet  as  he  joined  the  waiters  in  hot  pursuit  of 
the  culprit,  and  it  is  needless  to  say  that  the  dining 
car  door,  forever  after  was  shut  against  the  fox 


45 

terrier.  Naturally,  the  occurrence  was  considered  a 
huge  joke  by  the  passengers;  nevertheless,  Tuttu's 
thieving  propensities  became  well  known  to  us  for  he 
helped  himself  to  everything  that  came  within  his 
reach. 

Entering  my  compartment  one  day  I  found  my 
carryall  unstrapped  and  a  box  of  biscuits  gone.  I 
supposed  some  thief  had  stolen  them,  but  on  examin- 
ing the  straps  I  found  them  dented  with  the  marks 
of  a  dog's  teeth  and  still  so  wet  that  I  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  determining  who  was  the  robber.  Yet  the 
dogs  were  great  favorites  with  all  the  passengers. 
Handsome,  well-kept  dogs  are  generally  petted  and 
admired  and  attract  as  much  attention  from  strangers 
as  pretty  well-dressed  children.  At  each  stopping 
place  the  dogs  jumped  out  on  the  platform  with  a 
fierce  challenge  to  all  canine  comers.  Marie,  the 
maid,  with  vain  efforts  to  corral  them,  would  tearfully 
declare  her  intention  of  taking  the  next  train  back  to 
St.  Petersburg,  and  many  times  a  day  the  English 
lady  counted  out  the  money  necessary  for  her  return 
but  her  resolution  would  gradually  weaken  as  the  next 
station  was  approached.  Often,  however,  it  required 
the  combined  efforts  of  all  the  passengers  and  the 
train  crew  to  round  up  the  dogs  and  pacify  Marie, 
making  a  delay  of  a  few  minutes,  more  or  less.  And 
so  the  days  passed,  one  as  like  another  as  were  the 
different  stations  along  the  route. 

The  landscape  was  always  one  vast  steppe  with  here 


46        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

and  there  a  grove  of  white  birch  trees,  until  at  last 
we  reached  the  Volga,  a  wide  spreading  river  crossed 
by  the  great  Alexandroski  bridge,  a  splendid  piece 
of  workmanship.  It  is  a  mile  in  length  and  has 
thirteen  enormous  spans. 

Then  came  the  town  of  Samara  and  the  bridge 
over  the  Ufa  River,  after  which  we  commenced  to 
ascend  the  Ural  Mountains.  These  are  disappoint- 
ing, for  they  are  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  series 
of  foothills,  two  or  three  hundred  feet  in  height, 
wooded  to  the  top  with  fir  and  pine  trees.  They  form 
the  boundary  line  between  Russia  and  Siberia. 

Zlataoust  was  the  next  place  of  interest,  surrounded 
by  bare,  rocky  hills,  some  of  them  with  beautifully 
colored  faces.  Here  is  situated  the  big  iron  mine  and 
there  are  a  number  of  small  booths  at  the  station, 
where  Russian  sheathed  knives,  with  beautiful  chased 
blades,  and  other  curios  are  sold.  Among  them  was 
the  coat  of  arms  of  the  Siberian  Railway,  an  anchor 
crossed  by  an  upward  turning  ax. 

After  leaving  Zlataoust  we  watched  with  great  in- 
terest for  the  monument  that  marks  the  boundary  line 
between  Russia  and  Asia,  but  after  our  expectations, 
it  seemed  insignificant.  If  it  had  not  been  pointed 
out  to  us  we  would  not  have  noticed  the  twelve- foot- 
high  stone,  its  reddish  base  surmounted  by  a  pointed 
yellow  sandstone  column.  Chelyabinsk,  the  next 
stopping  place,  is  a  pretty  town  situated  in  the  Ural 
Mountains.  The  booth-keepers  at  this  station  had 


SIBERIA    AND    THE    SIBERIANS  47 

curios  made  from  green  malachite,  rock  crystal,  dif- 
ferent colored  jasper,  and  lapis  lazuli. 

We  were  now  in  Siberia ;  and  after  leaving  Chely- 
abinsk the  train  slowed  down  to  fifteen  miles  an  hour 
as  it  crossed  the  Great  Siberian  plain,  which  is  car- 
peted with  flowers  that  remind  one  of  the  great  plains 
of  Morocco  except  for  the  difference  in  the  flora,  the 
one  being  tropical,  the  other  hardy  and  very  much  like 
the  flowering  plants  of  North  America.  The  coun- 
try is  almost  a  dead  level  as  far  as  the  station  at  Taiga, 
where  the  passengers  change  for  Tomsk. 

Our  train  now  began  to  use  coal  for  fuel,  for  we 
wrere  in  a  country  rich  with  great  mineral  resources  of 
silver,  gold,  iron,  coal  and  copper.  We  crossed  many 
bridges,  spanning  the  great  rivers  that  flow  from  the 
south  across  Siberia,  and  after  leaving  Taiga  the 
country  was  well  wooded  but  not  well  settled.  As  we 
approached  Irkutsk,  however,  it  seemed  better  popu- 
lated and  some  of  the  land  well  cultivated.  The  hills 
were  much  higher  than  those  we  had  passed  and  beau- 
tifully green  to  the  very  top,  with  sparkling  streams 
running  through  the  valleys. 

The  station  at  Irkutsk  is  two  miles  from  the  town 
and  across  the  river.  So  far  there  had  been  no  un- 
pleasant features  in  our  long  journey  of  3372  miles, 
so  we  were  somewhat  unprepared  for  a  disagreeable 
experience.  When  we  arrived  at  Irkutsk  it  had  been 
raining  for  several  days  and  the  streets  were  a  foot 
deep  with  mud  and  water.  Fortunately,  it  was  still 


48        NEWEST   WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

light ;  so,  after  securing  a  drosky,  we  crossed  the  long 
bridge  made  of  boats  and  started  for  the  hotel.  There 
was  a  small  toll  to  pay  and  it  was  then  that  the  un- 
pleasant part  of  our  ride  began.  The  horse  started  on 
a  brisk  trot,  and  things  soon  became  exciting.  The 
streets  were  filled  with  little  hills  and  hollows,  that 
almost  made  our  shallow  little  carriage  tip  over  at 
every  turn  of  the  wheels.  The  more  we  begged  the 
driver  to  go  slow  the  faster  he  drove,  until  we  were 
plastered  with  mud.  In  the  excitement  both  dogs 
jumped  out  into  the  mud  puddles  and  they,  as  well  as 
ourselves,  were  a  pitiful  sight  to  behold.  But  the 
worst  was  not  yet.  When  we  arrived  at  the  hotel  there 
was  not  a  room  to  be  had.  It  was  now  getting  dark, 
and  moreover,  ladies  traveling  alone  do  not  appeal  to 
the  sympathy  of  the  Siberian  hotelkeeper.  However, 
a  friend  in  need  was  at  hand,  for  it  so  happened  that 
on  the  train  with  us  was  a  Siberian  by  the  name  of 
Vassili ;  and  eight  or  ten  other  names  I  could  not  pro- 
nounce. He  was  met  at  the  train  by  a  friend,  an  old 
gentleman,  who,  on  discovering  that  we  could  not  be 
accommodated  at  the  hotel,  insisted  that  we  should  rest 
at  his  home  while  a  servant  searched  for  temporary 
quarters.  We  were  regaled  with  an  elaborate  dinner, 
after  which  the  servants  took  our  dogs  and  handbags 
to  rooms  which  they  had  secured  for  the  night  and 
came  the  next  day  to  help  transfer  us  to  the  hotel 
where  rooms  had  been  vacated.  I  had  expected  more 
or  less  trouble  for  I  had  heard  that  Russians  were  very 


A  View  of  Irkutsk  from  the  Railroad  Station 


SIBERIA   AND    THE    SIBERIANS  49 

uncivil  to  foreigners;  but  I  was  never  treated  better 
in  my  life,  nor  did  I  ever  meet  people  more  courteous 
and  hospitable  than  the  subjects  of  the  Czar. 

The  Siberian  gentleman,  Vassili,  said  to  be  the  rich- 
est man  in  Siberia,  insisted  upon  showing  the  whole 
party  the  sights  of  his  country.  Never  have  I 
seen  such  generosity.  He  took  everyone,  including 
the  train  crew,  to  the  circus,  the  theaters,  the  open- 
air  concerts  in  the  parks  and  the  coffee  gardens; 
moreover,  he  treated  us  all  and  all  the  friends 
whom  he  chanced  to  meet,  to  champagne,  and  insisted 
that  nothing  else  should  be  drunk.  Russian  etiquette 
requires  that  a  gentleman  shall  not  stop  drinking  un- 
til he  is  inebriated,  and  it  certainly  takes  a  large 
quantity  of  liquor  to  accomplish  this  result. 

In  one  of  the  coffee  shantas  I  met  Mr.  Churchill, 
the  artist,  who  made  illustrations  for  the  New  York 
papers  during  the  war  in  the  Philippines.  He  had 
in  his  possession  a  number  of  medals  bestowed  in  rec- 
ognition of  his  work,  one  of  which  was  from  Admiral 
Dewey.  When  I  saw  him  he  was  drawing  pastel 
pictures  blindfolded,  and  he  did  his  work  so  well  he 
was  selling  them  at  the  rate  of  a  thousand  a  week. 
After  exhibiting  his  artistic  skill  to  his  Russian  audi- 
ence he  proceeded  to  execute  a  clown  dance,  which 
was  not  well  received,  and  I  do  not  wonder,  for  it  was 
the  worst  performance  I  have  ever  witnessed. 

In  another  coffee  shanta  I  heard  a  lady  sing  in 
Russian,  the  American  coon  song,  "  My  Girl  is  a 


50        NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

High-Born  Lady,"  which  was  received  with  rounds 
of  applause  and  she  repeated  it  four  times.  When 
the  performance  is  pleasing  to  a  Russian  audience  the 
performers  are  called  back  until  they  are  exhausted. 

There  are  many  good  bands  of  music  in  Irkutsk; 
some  of  them  are  entirely  composed  of  women  who 
play  brass  instruments.  I  heard  a  stringed  orchestra 
of  thirty  women  all  playing  the  "  polot,"  a  Russian 
instrument  something  between  a  guitar  and  a  mando- 
lin. They  made  splendid  music.  Another  stringed 
orchestra  was  composed  of  an  entire  family — father, 
sons  and  daughters.  One  of  the  girls,  a  fine  violinist, 
not  more  than  fifteen  years  old,  acted  as  conductor. 

Irkutsk  though  perfectly  flat,  is  surrounded  on  all 
sides  with  beautiful  green  hills.  The  river  Angara 
flows  through  the  valley,  a  clear  deep  stream  that 
joins  the  Yenesei  to  form  a  waterway  from  the  center 
of  Asia  to  the  Arctic  Ocean. 

The  city  has  a  population  of  over  50,000 ;  and  a  fine 
theater  where  a  troupe  of  artists  from  St.  Petersburg 
play  every  winter.  The  Governor  General  occupies 
a  mansion  which  cost  500,000  rubles.  Many  of  the 
most  costly  buildings  are  built  of  brick  and  plaster  on 
the  outside  but  the  majority  of  them  are  wood.  Of 
course  there  is  a  magnificent  Greek  church  with  a 
superb  view  of  the  city  and  the  surrounding  country 
from  the  top  of  it. 

The  whole  town  has  a  new  appearance,  that  re- 
sembles the  Western  villages  of  America.  The  streets 


SIBERIA    AND    THE    SIBERIANS  51 

are  wide,  but  few  of  them  are  paved.  One  wide  street 
runs  through  the  center  of  the  town,  where  the 
hotels  and  most  of  the  business  houses  are  situated. 
A  large  market,  covering  almost  an  acre,  is  situated 
out  of  doors  and  there  one  can  buy  all  kinds  of  eat- 
ables. 

Hordes  of  beggars  render  it  impossible  to  sit  at  the 
windows.  I  tried  it  a  number  of  times  and  found  in 
a  few  minutes  a  dozen  or  more  had  congregated,  most 
of  whom  were  convicts  from  Russia  and  armed  to  the 
teeth.  It  was  also  difficult  to  walk  the  streets  for 
they  are  at  every  turn  and  corner.  The  police  have  a 
way  of  going  through  the  town  with  a  stick  which 
they  scratch  on  the  fences  and  houses  by  way  of  an- 
nouncing that  they  are  attending  to  duty,  but  the 
noise  is  very  disagreeable.  The  old  portion  of 
Irkutsk  is  still  to  be  seen  in  part.  It  is  over  300  years 
old. 

There  are  three  hotels,  the  Russia,  the  Deko,  and 
the  Hotel  Metropole,  the  last  considered  the  best. 
The  Russia  has  an  immense  coffee  garden,  the  Deko 
has  a  music  hall  and  coffee  garden  not  connected  with 
the  hotel.  None  of  these  hotels  are  good — there  are 
no  good  hotels  in  Siberia. 

It  took  me  some  time  to  manage  Siberian  beds.  I 
found  it  impossible  to  spend  the  whole  night  in  one  so 
I  stayed  in  it  as  long  as  I  could  and  then  got  up  and 
dressed.  In  this  way  I  was  able  to  endure  the  night 
fairly  well.  To  my  tortured  sense  of  feeling  this 


52        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

thing  designated  a  bed  appeared  to  be  nothing  more 
than  a  mass  of  broken  iron  covered  with  a  sheet.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  bed  in  a  Siberian  hotel  generally 
has  a  miserable  old  mattress  without  springs,  and  even 
the  slats  are  broken.  You  are  expected  to  bring  with 
you  pillows,  pillow  cases,  sheets  and  all  the  necessary 
covering;  but  the  hotels  in  Irkutsk  supply  sheets  and 
towels,  if  you  pay  extra  for  them,  but  most  of  them 
have  been  used  before  and  are  consequently  far  from 
clean.  I  would  advise  persons  contemplating  a 
Siberian  trip,  to  arrange  to  carry  table  as  well  as  bed 
linen.  The  table  cloths  and  napkins  on  the  trains  be- 
come very  much  soiled  before  the  end  of  the  journey, 
and  while  the  attendants  tried  to  do  their  best,  they 
told  us  it  would  be  impossible  to  give  us  clean  table 
linen  every  day  for  they  had  no  means  of  laundering 
them. 

The  food  at  the  Irkutsk  hotels  is  not  as  good  as  that 
on  the  trains  and  it  is  much  higher  priced.  For 
breakfast  it  is  a  good  plan  to  have  a  samovar  brought 
into  the  room;  it  will  hold  hot  water  enough  for  a 
dozen  persons.  Bread  and  butter  will  be  furnished 
for  thirty  cents  and  you  can  have  your  own  jam.  We 
used  to  have  the  samovar  brought  into  our  rooms  two 
or  three  times  a  day  and  have  luncheon  between  meals. 
It  is  the  custom  of  the  Russians  always  to  have  the 
samovar  in  readiness  for  the  refreshment  of  them- 
selves and  any  chance  guests. 

There  are  many  good  stores  in  Irkutsk  where  one 


SIBERIA    AND    THE    SIBERIANS  53 

can  buy  anything  desired.  There  is  also  a  telephone 
system  running  through  the  town  but  it  is  not  of  the 
improved  kind  and  I  never  found  one  that  would 
work  well. 

A  few  days  had  been  spent  rather  agreeably  and 
now  it  was  time  to  take  my  departure.  The  place  im- 
proved upon  acquaintance  and  impressed  me  more 
favorably  than  on  the  day  of  my  disagreeable  advent. 
Though  the  town  is  not  at  all  pretty  its  surroundings 
are  all  one  could  wish.  I  had  met  the  Siberians  in 
their  own  country  and  found  them  quite  different 
from  my  conception  of  them.  They  have  an  air  of 
independence  and  it  is  evident  that  they  are  not  so 
subservient  to  the  church  as  the  Russians  are,  Alto- 
gether they  resemble  the  people  of  other  new  countries 
of  rich  resources.  Many  of  them  were  well  to  do, 
and  prosperity  has  made  them  liberal  and  given  them 
a  tendency  to  a  free  and  easy  life  that  leads  to  a  great 
deal  of  drinking  and  gambling  and  fosters  a  spirit  of 
"  hail-fellow,  well-met." 


CHAPTER   FIVE 

LAST    GLIMPSES    OF    THE    RUSSIAN    EMPIRE 


RID  AY  is  the  day  on  which  the  express  leaves 
A  Irkutsk  for  Lake  Baikal.  As  it  leaves  very 
early  in  the  morning  Mr.  Vassili,  the  Siberian,  sent  his 
valet  in  advance  to  the  station  so  that  when  we  arrived 
our  tickets  were  purchased  and  our  baggage  regis- 
tered, and  all  we  had  to  do  was  to  step  on  board  the 
train.  The  express  was  very  slow.  We  were  four 
hours  in  traveling  less  than  forty  miles,  but  the  ride 
was  enjoyable  for  the  scenery  through  which  we 
passed  was  very  charming.  Arriving  at  Lake  Baikal 
the  train  ran  up  to  the  long  floating  dock  and  the 
passengers  had  only  a  short  walk  to  the  boat.  I  had 
hoped  that  the  great  ice  breaker,  the  "  Baikal,"  would 
take  the  train  across  the  lake,  but  it  was  engaged  to 
carry  soldiers  and  supplies  for  the  army  in  Manchuria 
and  the  frontier,  so  we  were  carried  across  on  the 
small  ice  breaker,  the  "  Angara."  The  big  "  Baikal  " 
passed  near  us  so  we  had  a  good  view  of  it.  The  idea 
of  an  ice  breaker  came  from  the  United  States.  It  is 
built  on  the  same  plan  as  the  New  York  ferry  boats. 
The  "  Baikal  "  was  constructed  at  the  works  of  Arm- 
strong &  Co.  in  England,  being  taken  to  its  destina- 
tion in  pieces  and  put  together  on  the  shores  of  the 
lake.  It  is  constructed  of  steel,  290  feet  in  length. 

54 


LAST  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  EMPIRE    55 

Its  speed  is  something  over  thirteen  knots  an  hour,  its 
displacement,  with  a  full  cargo,  4200  tons.  The 
"  Baikal "  is  equipped  with  three  engines  of  3750 
horse  power,  and  carries  three  tracks  on  its  main  deck 
capable  of  holding  over  20  cars.  The  cabins  above 
accommodate  150  passengers. 

Lake  Baikal  is  fresh  water,  396  miles  in  length  and 
from  18  to  60  miles  in  breadth.  It  is  1561  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea  and  surrounded  by  mountains  from 
5000  to  6000  feet  in  height.  Although  it  was  the  first 
of  August  the  tops  of  these  mountains  were  covered 
with  snow.  The  sun  was  setting  as  our  train  stood 
on  the  track  at  Misovaya,  the  station  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  lake,  and  the  sky  was  a  blaze  of  magnifi- 
cent coloring  which  was  reflected  on  the  mountain 
tops  and  in  the  great  lake  below.  These  colors  were 
blended  together  with  that  soft  mellow  light  so  char- 
acteristic of  Italy  and  Egypt,  and  one  could  have 
imagined  oneself  viewing  a  sunset  from  the  citadel  at 
Cairo  instead  of  on  this  great  inland  sea  in  the  heart 
of  Asia.  The  road  in  course  of  construction  around 
the  lake  was  being  pushed  forward  with  great  rapidity 
at  that  time,  and  was  expected  soon  to  be  ready  for 
use.  When  it  is,  new  employment  will  have  to  be 
found  for  the  big  ice  breaker. 

Our  train  was  now  composed  of  new  cars.  The 
dining  car  was  very  clean  but  the  food  was  not  so 
good  as  before,  though  somewhat  dearer.  We  were 
now  on  the  Trans-Baikal  road,  which  commences  at 


56,       NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

Misovaya,  and  the  train  slowed  down  to  almost  a 
walking  pace  for  the  country  is  very  mountainous  and 
the  highest  grading  on  the  whole  line  is  on  this  part 
of  the  road.  The  Yablonoi  Mountains  are  crossed 
there  at  an  altitude  of  3412  feet,  the  highest  point 
reached. 

The  country  from  Lake  Baikal  to  Stretensk  is  more 
or  less  mountainous  and  in  many  places  the  scenery  is 
very  fine.  Since  the  road  has  been  completed  through 
Manchuria  the  train  that  leaves  Misovaya  runs  to 
Khaidalovo,  where  the  passengers  change  for  the 
Manchurian  train,  but  those  bound  for  Stretensk 
must  change  cars  several  hundred  miles  this  side  of 
that  station  and  submit  to  very  inferior  accommoda- 
tions. 

As  I  had  learned  before  leaving  Irkutsk  that  the 
cholera  was  raging  in  Manchuria,  having  met  five 
doctors  who  were  going  to  Habarovsk  to  practice  in 
the  cholera  hospitals,  I  decided  to  go  by  way  of  the 
rivers;  therefore,  I  had  to  change  cars  and  wait  ten 
hours  for  the  train  to  Stretensk,  and  did  not  arrive 
there  until  late  in  the  evening.  It  happened,  how- 
ever, that  our  Siberian  friend  Vassili,  who  had  large 
tea  plantations  in  China,  had  been  importing  tea  by 
way  of  the  rivers  to  large  business  houses  in  Stretensk, 
and  he  telegraphed  to  his  head  man  to  meet  us  when 
we  arrived.  Although  our  train  was  very  late  some- 
one had  waited  at  the  station  for  us,  so,  when  we 
arrived,  carriages  and  express  wagons  were  in  readi- 


A  Greek  Priest 


LAST  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  EMPIRE    57 

ness  to  take  us  and  our  baggage  to  the  hotel.  Our 
party  was  now  increased  by  the  addition  of  a  Russian 
admiral  who  was  a  friend  of  the  English  lady's  hus- 
band. He  was  one  of  the  largest  owners  of  the  river 
fleet,  and  had  telegraphed  for  a  boat  to  be  in  readiness 
to  take  him  to  Blagovchensk,  his  destination. 

After  we  had  spent  a  few  hours  very  pleasantly  in 
Stretensk  he  announced  that  his  boat  was  large 
enough  for  the  whole  party  and  we  would  escape  a 
three  days'  wait  by  accepting  his  invitation.  He  had 
also  invited  a  gentleman  and  his  wife,  and  of  course 
we  all  accepted  his  courteous  invitation.  Accord- 
ingly, the  English  lady,  her  maid  Marie,  the  two  dogs, 
the  five  doctors  and  myself  went  on  board,  and  we 
were  soon  on  our  way  down  the  Shilka  River. 

The  inhabitants  of  Stretensk  are  mostly  Cossacks, 
this  being  the  Cossack  country.  The  town  is  on  a 
high  hill  overlooking  the  Shilka  River  and  the  railroad 
station  is  across  the  river,  over  which  the  ferry  boat  is 
drawn  by  a  cable.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  the  streets 
were  a  foot  deep  in  mud,  for  it  had  been  raining  some 
time.  The  town  had  a  new  look  and  has,  I  should 
say,  from  6,000  to  7,000  inhabitants.  We  went  to 
the  best  hotel  and  found  it  very  indifferently  kept,  al- 
though it  was  pretentious  enough  to  possess  a  large 
music  hall. 

At  Stretensk  I  saw,  for  the  first  time,  the  wild 
Siberian  horses  in  use.  They  are  very  inferior  look- 
ing animals  but  have  wonderful  strength.  On  one 


58        NEWEST   WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

occasion  they  pulled  our  conveyance  up  a  hill  which 
must  have  been  three  hundred  feet  in  height,  and,  al- 
though it  was  very  slippery  with  mud,  they  went  up 
without  resting.  I  wras  told  they  could  live  on  almost 
nothing  and  they  certainly  looked  it  with  their  long 
shaggy  hair  and  thin  bodies, — as  though  they  had 
eaten  nothing  but  ice  all  their  lives. 

From  Irkutsk  to  Stretensk  the  end  of  the  Siberian 
road,  is  about  723  miles.  The  trip  on  the  Shilka 
River  was  very  delightful,  for  we  had  no  fogs  and 
only  one  or  two  small  showers.  The  river  was  boom- 
ing and  our  boat  was  so  small  it  cut  through  the  water 
like  a  bird  through  the  air.  The  only  disagreeable 
feature  was  the  loading  of  wood  every  two  or  three 
hours.  I  am  sure  that  boat  would  have  created  a 
wood  famine  in  any  other  country  but  Siberia  where 
the  wood  piles  are  as  big  as  the  mountains.  Along 
the  river  the  hills  were  not  more  than  1500  feet  in 
height  but  the  arrangement  and  shape,  with  every 
now  and  then  a  rock  projecting  from  their  sides,  made 
them  very  charming,  with  the  river  winding  in  many 
graceful  curves  at  their  base.  After  sunset  the  at- 
mospheric coloring  over  the  mountains  was  a  most 
beautiful  blue,  and  the  reflection  of  it  in  the  river 
would  change  from  every  conceivable  shade  of  blue  to 
black. 

We  stopped  at  many  Cossack  villages  along  the 
river.  The  houses  were  mostly  one  story,  built  of 
wood,  unpainted,  except  the  window  blinds,  which 


LAST  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  EMPIRE    59 

were  white.  There  are  many  Chinamen  doing  busi- 
ness in  these  villages,  for  they  lie  on  the  Chinese 
border. 

In  a  little  over  three  days  from  the  time  we  left 
Stretensk  we  anchored  at  the  quarantine  station  at 
Blagovchensk  for  a  few  hours,  for  the  cholera  was 
raging  badly  in  Manchuria. 

The  first  thing  one  sees  on  reaching  the  dock  is  the 
arch  erected  in  honor  of  the  visit  of  the  Czar  in  1891. 
Blagovchensk  is  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Amoor 
and  Zega  rivers  and  has  a  population  of  35,000.  It 
is  built  on  level  ground  with  long  wide  streets,  some 
of  which  are  destined  to  become  boulevards  for  trees 
have  been  planted  along  each  side. 

None  of  the  streets  are  paved  and  there  are  no 
sewers  nor  water  works.  Wood  enters  largely  into 
the  composition  of  the  town,  although  there  are  a 
number  of  stone  and  brick  buildings  which  are  very 
imposing.  There  are  many  stores,  and  almost  every- 
thing can  be  bought  at  some  one  of  them.  The  larg- 
est is  kept  by  a  German  firm,  Kuntz  &  Albert.  There 
were  four  banks  doing  business  there  and  many  large 
and  costly  churches  were  to  be  seen  scattered  through- 
out the  city.  The  first  warm  weather  during  our 
journey  was  experienced  there,  though  it  was  as  late 
as  August  8th. 

At  this  time  another  small  boat  was  hired  by  the 
doctors  of  our  party  and  we  proceeded  down  the 
Amoor  river.  Most  of  the  way  the  country  is  level 


60        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

and  in  some  places  the  banks  are  so  low  that  the  river 
spreads  out  to  several  miles  in  width,  while  at  other 
points  the  hills  are  high,  though  for  the  most  part 
they  lie  back  from  the  river. 

We  were  reminded  of  the  Boxer  uprisings  in  pass- 
ing the  site  of  the  town  of  Aigun,  which  is  not  far 
from  the  river  on  the  Manchurian  side.  It  was 
formerly  a  village  of  15,000  inhabitants  but  now  noth- 
ing remains  except  a  small  Chinese  pagoda  and 
several  thousand  chimneys  to  show  where  the  terrible 
massacre  took  place.  Though  but  a  few  years  have 
elapsed  since  these  awful  events,  thousands  of  China- 
men have  gone  back  to  live  in  the  Russian  towns. 

We  were  very  fortunate  in  having  no  foggy 
weather,  and  there  was  very  little  rain,  although  the 
sky  was  cloudy  most  of  the  way.  When  our  boat 
stopped  at  night  thousands  of  bugs  were  attracted  by 
the  lights  and  settled  on  the  decks  in  such  numbers  we 
could  scoop  them  up  by  shovelfuls.  Many  of  them 
were  very  pretty. 

On  arriving  at  Habarovsk  we  were  again  quar- 
antined for  a  few  hours.  This  gave  us  time  to  view 
the  town  from  the  river  and  very  charming  it  ap- 
peared with  its  little  green  park  on  the  top  of  the  high 
hill. 

Habarovsk  is  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Amoor 
and  Usuri  rivers.  It  was  founded  by  Count  Mura- 
vief  Ainski  and  was  named  for  the  Cossack  General 
Khabarov  who  helped  to  conquer  the  Amoor  country. 


A  Street  in  Blagovchensk 


The  Gorenwr's  Mansion,,  Habarovsk 


LAST  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  EMPIRE    61 

In  one  of  the  parks  there  is  a  statue  of  the  town's 
founder,  and  here  one  can  obtain  a  splendid  view  of 
the  river.  In  the  same  park  there  is  a  museum,  and 
the  Governor  General's  imposing  mansion  is  near  at 
hand.  Wide,  unpaved  streets  run  through  the  town 
and  the  hill  from  which  we  obtained  our  view  is 
ascended  by  means  of  a  wooden  stairway.  A  carriage 
road  also  leads  to  the  top.  The  condition  of  the 
town  is  extremely  unsanitary  on  account  of  the  lack 
of  water  supply  and  sewers.  Most  of  the  new  town 
is  built  of  brick,  the  old  portion  being  of  wood.  As 
is  the  case  with  most  Siberian  towns,  the  males  greatly 
outnumber  the  female  portion  of  the  inhabitants, 
which  number  in  all  about  15,000  persons.  Hotel  ac- 
commodations are  poor,  and  not  obtainable  at  all  un- 
less telegraphed  for  in  advance.  It  is  a  prosperous 
town  notwithstanding,  and  there  are  many  good 
stores  kept  by  persons  of  different  nationalities. 

Arriving  at  the  railroad  station,  which  is  situated 
a  long  distance  from  the  town,  one  observes  at  once 
the  difference  between  this  part  of  the  road  and  that 
just  passed  over,  this  being  the  Usuri  branch.  The 
station  is  built  of  wood  with  a  lot  of  gingerbread  work 
about  it  and  surrounded  by  a  well-kept  park  outlined 
with  flower  beds  in  fancy  shapes. 

Our  train  was  composed  of  many  cars,  but  every 
available  space  was  taken;  and  though  the  cars  are 
equipped  with  special  compartments  for  the  ladies, 
these  must  buy  an  entire  compartment  and  then  sit 


62        NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

up  all  night  to  hold  the  door,  or  else  have  a  man  in  it, 
for  the  door  is  opened  at  every  station  by  newcomers 
hunting  for  places.  The  dining  room  runs  length- 
wise in  the  cars  and  it  is  not  so  pleasant,  for  many 
kinds  and  conditions  of  people  dine  there.  However, 
there  is  a  buffet  where  one  may  help  oneself  to  an 
appetizer  before  the  feast  begins,  and  the  food  and 
the  prices  are  about  the  same  as  on  the  other  part  of 
the  road. 

We  passed  through  a  beautiful  country  and  this 
part  of  the  railroad  is  much  better  built  than  the  other. 
The  stations  are  very  attractive  and  show  that  the 
people  are  well  to  do  and  are  trying  to  keep  pace  with 
the  rest  of  the  world.  The  Nikholsk  is  the  most  im- 
portant station  on  the  line  for  it  is  there  that  the 
Manchuria  railroad  connects  with  the  Usuri  line,  sixty 
miles  above  Vladivostok. 

The  English  lady's  Russian  husband  sent  his  valet 
to  meet  the  train  several  stations  before  Vladivostok 
was  reached.  His  purpose  was  to  relieve  us  of  the 
care  of  our  baggage  and  help  us  prepare  to  leave  the 
train.  He  appeared  delighted  to  relieve  Marie,  the 
maid,  of  the  care  of  the  dogs,  and  she  gave  a  sigh  of 
relief  and  smiled  sweetly.  It  was  like  a  burst  of  sun- 
shine from  a  dark  sky— it  seemed  to  refresh  us  all. 

Our  train  commenced  to  slow  down  and  someone 
said  Vladivostok.  A  few  moments  later  we  rolled 
into  the  great  station  of  Nicholas  II,  where,  on  the 
19th  of  May,  1891,  His  Imperial  Highness,  then  the 


LAST  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  EMPIRE    6& 

Czarevitch,  filled  with  his  own  hands  a  wheelbarrow 
full  of  earth  and  emptied  it  on  the  embankment  of  the 
future  Usuri  line  and  there  laid  the  first  stone  in  the 
construction  of  the  Great  Siberian  Railway. 

It  was  just  twenty-six  days  since  I  had  left  Moscow 
but  only  twenty  days  of  the  time  had  been  spent  in 
travel.  The  distance  covered  was  6000  miles.  My 
first  class  ticket  from  Moscow  to  Vladivostok  cost  194 
rubles,  equal  to  $106.70  American  money.  Never  in 
my  life  had  I  made  a  trip  of  so  long  a  distance  with 
so  few  unpleasant  experiences ;  every  little  cloud  that 
arose  seemed  to  contain  a  ray  of  sunshine.  The  cars 
were  comfortable,  more  so  than  are  most  cars  in 
Europe,  and  while  the  bills  of  fare  were  not  elaborate, 
the  food  was  good,  the  small  cost  of  which,  when  one 
takes  into  consideration  the  distance  covered  and  the 
accommodations  given,  surpasses  anything  in  the  his- 
tory of  railroading. 

I  found  the  Russians  very  patriotic.  Their  love  of 
country,  and  their  corresponding  bump  of  self-esteem, 
are  abnormally  developed.  They  simply  smile  when 
the  idea  is  suggested  of  a  Russian  traveling  outside 
of  his  own  country,  and  I  was  told  repeatedly  that  it 
was  impossible  for  a  Russian  to  see  half  his  native 
land  in  a  lifetime,  for  it  takes  three  weeks  to  cross  the 
great  empire  without  stopping.  When  any  allusion 
was  made  to  the  country  bordering  on  Siberia  it  was 
slyly  remarked  that  sometime  it  might  become  a  Rus- 
sian possession.  Now  that  the  road  is  completed 


64        NEWEST   WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

through  Manchuria,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  new  rails 
and  a  better  road  bed  will  be  made  on  the  Siberian 
part,  in  order  that  the  speed  may  be  increased  to 
twenty-five  miles  an  hour ;  eventually,  no  doubt,  better 
time  than  this  will  be  made. 

It  had  been  raining  in  Vladivostok  and  the  atmos- 
phere was  damp  and  very  disagreeable.  To  add  to 
the  discomfort,  the  hotel  was  new  and  the  walls  were 
damp.  The  day  after  our  arrival  one  of  the  servants 
came  down  with  the  cholera  and  had  to  be  sent  to  the 
hospital.  The  hospitals  were  filled  with  cholera  pa- 
tients and  the  town  was  very  unhealthy, — a  condi- 
tion attributed  to  an  inadequate  water  supply,  that 
made  it  almost  impossible  to  get  enough  water  to  wash 
the  face,  and  a  bath  a  luxury  not  to  be  thought  of. 
The  water  used  at  the  hotel  was  evaporated  from  a 
brackish  lake  just  outside  the  town.  I  was  told  that 
people  had  learned  to  do  without  water,  a  statement 
which  I  had  no  reason  to  doubt,  since  nearly  every 
person  I  met  was  intoxicated.  In  the  hotel  dining 
room  I  made  it  a  point  to  secure  a  table  in  a  safe 
place  so  that  my  next-door  neighbor  would  not  fall  on 
me  when  he  rose  to  leave. 

From  my  window  I  could  see  in  the  harbor  nineteen 
Russian  men-of-war,  one  Japanese  and  one  American. 
They  looked  so  white  and  peaceful  as  their  hulls  rested 
on  the  placid  water  of  the  Golden  Horn,  it  was  im- 
possible to  comprehend  the  awful  death-dealing  mis- 
siles which  these  hulls  concealed  within  them.  From 


Vladivostok — Last  Glimpses  of  the  Russian  Empire 


LAST  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  EMPIRE    65 

12,000  to  15,000  soldiers  are  kept  here  all  the  time 
and  the  hills  are  lined  for  miles  around  with  the  great 
red  brick  barracks.  Day  and  night  the  tread  of 
soldiers  may  be  heard  passing  the  hotel,  and  a  dirty 
miserable  looking  lot  they  are,  with  their  old  brown 
blankets  rolled  up  and  passed  over  one  shoulder  and 
around  their  backs.  They  wear  great  high  cow-hide 
boots  and  their  hair  and  beard  look  as  though  they 
had  never  been  washed  or  combed.  Their  guns  and 
swords  were  rusty  and  dirty,  and  their  faces  were 
stolid,  betokening  ignorance  of  everything  but  a 
soldier's  life. 

While  Nature  has  been  very  generous  in  surround- 
ing the  great  naval  fortress  with  pretty  hills  and  has 
given  it  a  splendid  harbor,  weeping  clouds  and  leaden 
skies  destroy  much  of  its  beauty. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  emigration  to  Vladivostok 
and  it  has  a  mixed  population,  though  there  are  more 
Chinese  than  any  other  foreigners.  There  are  also 
Japanese  and  Koreans,  and  many  religious  denomina- 
tions are  represented.  I  saw  a  number  of  orthodox 
churches,  also  Chinese,  Japanese  and  Korean  temples. 

Owing  to  the  large  standing  army  the  males  out- 
number the  females  ten  to  one.  The  town  is  built  on 
a  hillside  and  the  streets  are  in  bad  condition.  Riding 
in  a  drosky  is  most  disagreeable,  for  the  Russians 
drive  very  fast  and  their  passengers  soon  find  them- 
selves badly  shaken  up. 

I  had  noticed  all  through  the  Russian  Empire  a 


66        NEWEST   WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

rather  peculiar  custom,  but  knowing  the  bad  condition 
of  the  roads  and  the  shallowness  of  the  droskys,  I  sup- 
posed, when  I  saw  a  gentleman  driving  with  his  arm 
about  a  lady's  waist,  that  consideration  prompted  him 
to  do  so  to  protect  her  from  falling  out.  Observing 
my  surprise,  the  English  lady  remarked,  "  I  see  you 
notice  the  Russian  custom  of  a  gentleman  putting  his 
arm  around  a  lady's  waist  wrhile  driving  out  with  her. 
That  is  the  way  a  Russian  shows  his  good  breeding. 
The  man  who  omits  this  courtesy  would  be  considered 
ill  bred."  So  universally  was  this  feature  of  Russian 
etiquette  observed,  however,  I  concluded  it  must  be 
enjoyed  by  both  parties. 

A  visit  to  the  opera,  which  is  rendered  very  well  by 
talent  from  St.  Petersburg  and  attended  by  ladies  in 
costly  Parisian  gowns,  completed  my  stay  in  Vladi- 
vostok. When  the  time  came  to  take  my  last  samovar 
luncheon  and  bid  my  fellow  travelers  good-by,  when 
I  gazed  for  the  last  time  on  the  face  of  the  ikon  which 
hangs  high  up  in  the  corner  of  almost  every  room  in 
the  great  empire,  it  was  with  heartfelt  regret  I  did  so. 
I  bought  a  samovar  and  took  it  away  with  me;  but 
after  I  left  Russia  it  seemed  to  lose  the  charm  it  had 
in  its  native  land ;  and,  besides,  I  -missed  the  English 
lady,  for  she  always  drew  the  hot  water  and  made  the 
tea.  Moreover,  the  dogs  were  not  there  to  beg  for 
bits  of  cake,  and  Marie,  the  maid,  who  used  to  put 
spoonfuls  of  delicious  jam  in  our  tea,  was  also  gone, 
and  I  was  alone  once  more,  and  far  out  at  sea. 


KOREA  AND  CHINA 


"THE    HERMIT    COUNTRY" 

T  WAS  now  traveling  on  a  Japanese  steamer.  The 
•*•  captain  and  crew  and  all  the  passengers,  with  the 
exception  of  myself,  were  Japanese.  The  captain 
was  very  proud  of  his  boat  and  wanted  everyone  to 
understand  that  there  was  nothing  Japanese  about  it 
and  that  he  was  an  up-to-date  captain.  He  told  the 
head  steward  to  give  me  a  seat  at  his  right  and  then 
arrange  the  rest  of  the  passengers  according  to  their 
wealth.  Most  of  them  were  rich  merchants,  but  those 
who  did  not  enjoy  that  distinction  were  set  down  near 
the  first  officer.  The  purser  was  allowed  to  sit  at  the 
middle  of  the  table  for  he  was  the  only  one,  with  the 
exception  of  myself,  who  could  speak  English,  and 
the  captain  wished  to  ask  me  many  questions.  This 
purser  was,  I  believe,  one  of  the  plainest  Japanese  I 
ever  remember  to  have  seen.  He  had  attended  the 
missionary  school  at  Osaka  and  could  speak  a  few 
words  of  English.  The  missionaries  were  from  Xew 
York  and,  according  to  his  story,  had  taught  him  that 
Xew  York  comprised  the  whole  of  the  United  States. 
I  told  him  I  was  from  Chicago,  to  which  he  replied 
that  he  had  never  heard  of  the  place.  I  showed  him 
a  map  of  the  world  and  pointed  out  where  Chicago 
was  situated,  but  it  was  marked  with  a  very  small  dot 

69 


70        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

and  he  at  once  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  I  thought  it  was  a 
very  small  place  or  the  missionaries  would  have  told 
me  about  it."  He  was  well  posted,  however,  about 
New  York  and  the  "  Four  Hundred  "  and  thought  he 
would  have  no  difficulty  in  making  an  entry  into  its 
aristocratic  circle  when  he  had  spent  another  year  at 
the  missionary  school. 

Japanese  maidens,  he  declared,  had  lost  all  their 
charms  for  him,  and  he  had  ordered  his  sister  to  pro- 
vide herself  with  dresses  such  as  the  New  York  ladies 
wear.  He  inquired  if  I  did  not  think  Japanese 
handled  knives  and  forks  as  though  they  had  never 
used  chop-sticks,  and  declared  that  the  art  of  eating 
soup  with  a  spoon  had  been  difficult  for  him  to  ac- 
quire. I  suggested  a  few  more  lessons  before  he 
joined  the  society  of  New  York's  "  Four  Hundred," 
and  hinted  at  the  advisability  of  reform  in  the  present 
Japanese  method  of  eating  soup  by  holding  the  plate 
about  two  inches  from  the  face  and  making  a  noise 
that  sounds  like  Farmer  Brown's  hogs  eating  their 
rations  of  sour  milk. 

After  nearly  two  days  of  rough  and  foggy  weather 
all  on  board  were  glad  to  see  the  lights  of  Wan-sen  or 
Gensen  Harbor  on  the  coast  of  Korea.  It  is  called 
"  Lazrell "  by  the  Russians  and  forms  a  part  of 
Broughton  Bay.  It  is  one  of  the  finest  harbors  in  the 
Far  East;  and  because  of  its  great  size,  depth  and 
sheltered  position  it  never  freezes.  Both  the  Russians 
and  the  Japanese  use  it  for  their  warship  maneuvers. 


"THE    HERMIT    COUNTRY"  71 

I  was  very  anxious  to  go  on  shore  for  my  first 
glimpse  of  Korea  and  its  people,  and  when  I  landed  I 
found  myself  in  a  large  Japanese  town.  I  at  once 
inquired  if  there  were  no  Koreans  in  the  place  and 
was  informed  their  town  was  situated  two  miles  fur- 
ther down  the  coast;  and,  as  the  means  of  proceeding 
there  was  by  boat  or  riksha,  I  chose  the  latter. 

Gensen,  I  found,  is  divided  into  three  parts,  the 
Japanese,  Chinese  and  Korean  quarters.  The 
Japanese  portion  was  clean,  with  paved  streets,  good 
houses  and  pleasant  surroundings.  The  Chinese 
town  was  unclean  and  had  a  dilapidated  appearance, 
but  it  remained  for  the  Koreans  to  display  the 
extreme  of  filth.  The  streets  were  filled  with  stag- 
nant pools,  dirty  ragged  people  and  hundreds  of  dis- 
eased dogs.  The  houses  were  small  with  one  or  twro 
rooms  heated  by  means  of  a  chimney,  which  was  run 
under  the  house  and  emerged  on  the  opposite  side. 
It  did  not  seem  creditable  that  the  town  had  never 
been  visited  by  cholera  or  any  of  the  contagious  dis- 
eases. 

Picking  my  way  through  the  filthy  streets  I  was 
startled  by  a  man  in  white  guaze  apparel  riding  on  a 
white  donkey.  Never  before  had  I  seen  a 'Korean  of 
the  better  class  in  full  dress,"  and  my  surprise  may 
scarcely  be  imagined  at  seeing  a  person  in  such  im- 
maculate white  robes  riding  through  that  dirty  town. 
Indeed,  he  looked  as  though  he  had  just  dropped  from 
the  skies;  or  as  though  he  had  gotten  himself  up  to 


72        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

take  flight  to  some  halcyon  shore.  His  attire  con- 
sisted of  white  undergarments,  thick  enough  to  hide 
his  body,  a  white  silk  gauze  coat  reaching  below  the 
knees,  white  pantalets  of  the  same  material,  white 
cloth  stockings,  a  pair  of  velvet  slippers  and  a  high, 
black  horsehair  hat  fastened  underneath  the  chin  with 
a  string  of  blue  beads.  His  clothing  was  put  together 
with  white  wax  and  appeared  seamless.  In  one  of 
the  shops  I  saw  some  bamboo  racks  worn  by  the 
Koreans  on  their  arms  and  on  the  front  and  back  of 
their  bodies  to  protect  their  clothing  from  prespira- 
tion.  The  better  class  of  Koreans  spend  seventy-five 
per  cent,  of  their  income  in  dress,  for  they  are  very 
vain,  and  the  material  used  is  very  perishable. 

En  route  to  Fusan,  about  thirty  miles  from  Gensen, 
our  captain  sighted  some  shipwrecked  fishermen,  and 
the  sailors  launched  a  sampan  and  went  to  the  rescue. 
There  were  seven  of  them,  one  a  small  boy  of  sixteen 
who  was  the  only  one  who  appealed  to  the  sympathy 
of  the  captain.  Poor  fellows!  They  had  been 
washed  by  the  sea  for  forty-eight  hours  and  they  were 
about  to  give  themselves  up  for  lost.  Their  faces 
were  swollen  to  twice  the  normal  size.  A  collection 
for  their  benefit  was  taken  up  among  the  passengers, 
to  which  I  contributed  five  yen,  or  $2.50,  American 
money.  Hearing  what  I  had  given,  the  captain  re- 
marked that  he  had  never  heard  of  such  generosity 
and  insisted  that  I  should  take  back  part  of  it,  declar- 
ing it  was  a  shame  to  throw  away  money  on  such 


8  £ 


"THE    HERMIT    COUNTRY'  73 

worthless  people  as  the  Koreans.  He  said  he  would 
take  them  back  to  their  homes  and  that  all  he  wanted 
them  to  have  was  money  enough  to  buy  rice  to  eat  on 
the  way. 

A  chain  of  mountains,  quite  high  and  treeless,  ex- 
tends along  the  coast  from  Gensen  to  Fusan,  and  the 
Japanese  Sea  is  a  beautiful  blue  and  very  smooth. 
Fusan  was  not  in  sight  when  the  ship  entered  the 
harbor,  for  it  lies  behind  the  hills.  It  was  late  in  the 
evening  before  we  landed  and  quite  dark.  When  we 
arrived,  the  Japanese  customs  house  officers  insisted 
that  I  should  open  my  baggage,  but  I  insisted  it  was 
too  dark  and  I  would  do  nothing  of  the  kind,  nor 
did  I. 

There  being  no  other  means  of  transportation,  I 
loaded  my  baggage  on  the  backs  of  two  coolies.  They 
were  Koreans  of  great  strength  and  capable  of  carry- 
ing three  hundred  pounds  with  ease.  A  wooden  rack 
with  two  long  prongs  is  strapped  on  their  backs,  and 
on  this  the  load  is  placed,  a  rope  being  passed  around 
it  to  hold  it  on. 

There  was  but  one  hotel  in  Fusan  kept  by  Japanese, 
It  was  lighted  by  electricity  but  everything  else  was 
in  the  Japanese  style,  and  the  whole  upper  floor  was 
one  large  room,  a  corner  of  which  was  assigned  to  me 
as  my  apartment.  At  about  ten  o'clock  a  Japanese 
maid  began  to  slide  the  doors,  to  make  the  room  into 
five  or  six  small  compartments,  and  I  was  assured  that 
my  corner  was  the  choicest  part  of  the  hotel.  Pres- 


74        NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

ently  another  maid  brought  in  a  Japanese  bed,  which 
consisted  of  several  comforters  (called  "futons"), 
and  a  round  pillow  stuffed  with  rice,  and  laid  them  on 
the  floor.  A  great  sleeping  bag,  also  made  of  com- 
forters, was  brought  for  my  use,  but  I  declined  it. 
No  bed  linen  was  brought  for  it  is  not  used  by  the 
Japanese.  However,  all  the  other  necessary  articles 
were  provided,  and  I  proceeded  to  arrange  things  for 
the  night,  when  just  as  I  was  about  to  lie  down  on  my 
pallet  I  heard  a  din  which  made  me  think  the  world 
was  coming  to  an  end.  At  a  given  signal  every  slid- 
ing door  in  this  town  of  over  30,000  inhabitants  began 
to  slide  at  once,  for  it  was  time  to  shut  up  shop  for 
the  night,  and  it  seemed  that  everyone  in  the  place 
kept  some  kind  of  a  shop. 

Again  I  settled  down  for  the  night  and  slept  until 
two  o'clock,  when  I  was  aroused  by  a  noise  that  sug- 
gested another  sliding  of  doors.  To  my  surprise, 
someone  was  knocking  at  mine  and  before  I  could  say, 
a  word  a  Japanese  officer  had  entered  and  was  kneel- 
ing at  the  side  of  my  pallet,  bowing  to  the  floor  as  he 
apologized  for  coming  at  so  late  an  hour.  He  told 
me  in  English  that  he  was  only  carrying  out  the  law, 
which  required  that  a  stranger  should  be  registered  as 
soon  as  it  became  known  he  was  in  the  place,  and  he 
explained  that  he  had  just  heard  of  my  arrival  as  he 
lived  some  distance  out  of  the  town.  He  wanted  to 
know  my  age,  the  color  of  my  eyes  and  hair,  where  I 
was  born,  where  I  came  from  and  where  I  was  going. 


"THE    HERMIT    COUNTRY "  75 

By  the  time  he  had  departed  the  mosquitoes  had  de- 
cided to  come  inside,  for  they  missed  the  people  who 
had  retired  from  the  street,  and  all  prospects  of  sleep 
being  out  of  the  question  for  that  night  I  was  glad  to 
see  the  first  dawn  of  day.  It  was  not  long  before  a 
Japanese  servant,  bowing  to  the  floor,  came  in  with 
my  breakfast  and  set  it  on  a  table  about  five  inches 
high.  The  meal  was  a  miserable  mess  and  I  forgot 
that  I  had  ever  possessed  an  appetite,  for  it  took 
speedy  flight  when  the  Japanese  cooking  was  set  be- 
fore me. 

Fusan  was  disappointing,  for  there  were  so  few 
Koreans  in  the  place.  It  is  a  well-built,  prosperous 
Japanese  town,  not  at  all  clean  in  the  streets,  and  it 
has  an  open  sewer  that  is  exceedingly  offensive.  I 
was  glad  to  be  again  on  a  Japanese  boat  and  proceed- 
ing on  my  journey. 

This  time  it  was  a  fine,  large  craft  and  very  com- 
fortable. A  few  yen  to  the  head  steward,  a  China- 
man who  had  lived  for  ten  years  in  California,  secured 
for  me  the  best  of  everything  on  board,  and  a  very 
pleasant  change  it  was  from  my  quarters  at  Fusan. 
As  the  boat  passed  out  of  the  harbor,  and  I  left  the 
blue  waters  of  the  Japanese  Sea,  the  great  contrast 
in  the  coloring  of  the  two  bodies  of  water  was  ex- 
tremely noticeable.  The  Yellow  Sea  is  always  a 
muddy  color,  and  as  it  had  been  stirred  to  its  depths 
by  a  terrible  typhoon,  it  was  thicker  than  ever  with 
mud. 


76       NEWEST   WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

There  are  many  islands  along  the  coast,  but  they  are 
rough  and  barren  like  the  mainland.  We  dropped 
anchor  in  the  roadstead  about  a  mile  from  Chemulpo, 
for  the  harbor  is  too  small  to  accommodate  more  than 
a  few  boats  at  a  time,  and  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide 
make  it  difficult  for  them  to  get  out. 

Chemulpo  was  an  improvement  on  Fusan.^  The 
town  is  situated  on  rolling  ground,  with  high  hills  at 
the  back.  It  is  clean,  with  no  open  sewers,  and  the 
air  is  cool  and  bracing.  Its  inhabitants  are  Japanese, 
Chinese  and  Koreans,  with  quite  a  sprinkling  of 
Europeans.  Two  hotels  on  the  American  plan  are 
kept  by  Japanese  and  Chinese,  and  they  are  really 
good  for  Korea.  There  are  two  banks,  one  Japanese, 
owned  by  a  private  banking  company,  and  the  other  a 
branch  of  the  Hongkong  and  Shanghai  bank.  There 
are  many  good  public  and  private  buildings,  among 
them  a  fine  club  house  owned  by  the  European 
population. 

I  met  the  governor  of  Chemulpo,  a  Korean,  by 
name  Ha-sag-ki,  who  told  me  he  had  a  wife  at  school 
in  America,  where  he  intended  to  keep  her  for  seven 
years  that  she  might  learn  the  manners  and  customs 
of  the  people  and  become  an  accomplished  lady  after 
the  American  pattern. 

It  is  hard  to  get  around  in  Chemulpo,  because  there 
are  no  means  of  transportation.  One  must  walk,  and 
the  hills  are  exceedingly  tiring.  I  found  the  hotels 
noisy.  It  seemed  as  though  the  people  walked  the 


"THE    HERMIT    COUNTRY  "  77 

streets  all  night,  and,  besides,  it  was  the  grasshopper 
season,  and  dozens  of  little  bamboo  cages,  filled  with 
green  grasshoppers  three  inches  long,  were  hanging 
before  the  Chinese  shops.  These  people  are  super- 
stitious about  this  insect,  and  believe  it  brings  good 
luck.  The  chirping  kept  up  day  and  night  was  al- 
most unendurable. 

Chemulpo  is  twenty-six  miles  from  Seoul.  For- 
merly travelers  going  from  one  town  to  the  other  were 
carried  in  sedan  chairs  by  coolies,  or  by  boat  on  the 
Han  river;  now,  there  is  a  good  railway  built  by  an 
American  company  and  equipped  with  American  cars. 
One  coach  of  the  train  was  divided  into  a  first  and 
second  class  compartment  and  there  was  a  third  class 
coach  for  the  poor  people. 

Two  hours  wrere  consumed  in  covering  these  twenty- 
six  miles  to  Seoul,  and  I  did  not  realize  I  was  in 
Korea  until  I  arrived  there.  The  railway  is  owned  by 
a  Japanese  company,  for  the  Korean  government 
could  not  raise  the  funds  to  pay  for  it.  In  the  other 
towns  I  had  visited  foreigners  had  transacted  the 
business  usually  done  by  the  natives,  unless  they  were 
subjects  of  some  other  country. 

Knowing  that  Korea  was  not  open  to  foreign  im- 
migration until  1876,  having  been  known  as  "  The 
Hermit  Country  "  until  then,  I  was  surprised  to  find 
that  foreigners  had  made  such  an  inroad  in  so  short 
a  time  and  had,  in  a  measure,  supplanted  the  natives. 
In  Seoul,  however,  there  is  a  preponderance  of  natives 


78        NEWEST   WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

and  one  has  a  chance  to  observe  the  Korean  customs. 
Since  the  war  between  the  Japanese  and  the  Chinese, 
Seoul  has  been  greatly  improved.  Before  that  time 
the  streets  were  nothing  but  crooked  lanes,  but  now 
there  are  two  wide  streets  with  an  electric  tram  car 
running  several  miles  through  the  center  of  the  town. 

The  Emperor's  palace  and  the  European  houses 
are  lighted  with  electricity,  the  electric  plant  and  the 
street  railway  having  been  built  by  an  American  com- 
pany. But,  with  all  these  modern  improvements,  the 
town  is  very  dirty,  and  the  odor  that  comes  from  the 
open  sewer  running  along  the  side,  and  in  some  places 
in  the  middle  of  the  streets,  is  stifling.  The  town  is 
surrounded  by  a  wall  with  seven  gates  that  are  no 
longer  closed  at  night  and  have  lost  their  significance. 
The  Gate  of  Death  is  no  more  dreaded  now  than  the 
Gate  of  Bright  Ambition,  and  they  are  all  rotting  and 
falling  from  their  hinges. 

The  native  houses  are  built  mostly  of  wood, 
thatched  with  straw,  and  the  windows  are  made  of 
paper.  I  visited  the  north  palace  where  the  late 
queen  was  assassinated,  in  the  enclosure  of  which  is 
the  coronation  hall  where  the  present  ruler  was 
crowned.  Nothing  has  been  done  to  the  buildings 
since  the  queen's  death,  but  even  in  their  dilapidated 
and  falling  condition  they  were  interesting,  and  many 
of  the  fine  carvings  and  strange  colorings  are  well 
preserved. 

The  Emperor  lives  in  the  south  palace.    He  is  a 


The  Emperor  of  Korea 

In  Foreign  Military  Dress 


"THE    HERMIT    COUNTRY"  79- 

small  man,  good  looking  and  said  to  be  well  educated. 
He  ascended  the  throne  on  his  tenth  birthday  and  cele- 
brated his  fifty-first  August  21,  1902,  during  my  stay 
in  Seoul.  The  occasion  was  marked  by  a  splendid 
spectacle,  and  the  streets  were  filled  with  thousands  of 
Koreans  carrying  banners,  who  marched  to  the  palace 
singing,  dancing  and  shouting  "  Long  live  our  Em- 
peror." 

I  had  no  idea  before  how  attractive  the  Korean 
dress  is.  There  were  hundreds  of  small  boys  in  the 
procession  who  looked  like  pretty  little  girls  in  their 
white  gauze  coats,  their  hair  parted  in  the  middle  and 
hanging  in  long  braids  down  their  backs.  A  new 
coronation  hall  was  being  built  for  the  celebration  of 
the  fortieth  anniversary  of  the  Emperor's  accession, 
which  would  occur  in  the  following  October.  Over 
five  hundred  men  were  employed  in  the  construction 
of  this  building. 

The  Crown  Prince's  poor  health  has  weakened  his 
mind  and  his  half  brother,  the  son  of  Lady  Om,  will 
succeed  the  father.  Since  my  visit  to  Korea  the  Em- 
peror has  placed  the  crown  on  Lady  Om's  head  and 
she  is  now  empress.  It  was  much  talked  of  while  I 
was  in  Seoul,  but  it  was  opposed  by  the  Koreans  on 
the  ground  that  she  was  once  a  dancing  girl  of  the 
harem.  I  have  heard  that  she  was  an  American  girl, 
born  in  Wisconsin,  and  the  daughter  of  a  missionary. 

The  burial  of  the  late  Empress  was  very  imposing. 
After  she  was  assassinated  by  the  Japanese  in  one  of 


80        NEWEST   WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

the  rooms  of  the  palace,  it  was  burned  and  her  body 
was  nearly  cremated.  The  Emperor  had  the  few  re- 
mains that  were  found  placed  in  a  magnificent  casket 
and  buried  them  two  miles  from  Seoul,  after  which  he 
employed  an  American  company  at  a  vast  expense, 
to  build  a  road  twelve  miles  long  so  he  could  visit  her 
tomb  and  those  of  the  former  rulers  of  Korea.  Once 
a  year  he  comes  out  of  the  palace  grounds  in  a  pony 
palanquin  and  makes  a  pilgrimage  to  these  tombs. 

At  the  foot  of  south  mountain  is  the  Japanese  town. 
It  is  clean  and  well  built  and  the  people  are  prosper- 
ous. On  a  hill  near  by  is  a  monument  that  marks  the 
place  where  the  Treaty  of  Peace  was  signed  between 
China  and  Japan. 

One  of  the  first  objects  of  interest  visited  by  a 
stranger  in  Seoul  is  the  great  bell,  a  present  from 
China,  said  to  be  the  third  largest  in  the  world.  For 
five  centuries  it  was  rung  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening 
to  warn  the  people  that  the  gates  of  Seoul  were  to  be 
shut  for  the  night,  and  the  men  were  to  go  home  and 
stay  in  the  house  from  six  to  nine,  that  the  women 
might  have  an  outing  in  the  streets. 


Tomb  of  the  Emperor's  Father 


CHAPTER  SEVEN 

KOREA   AND    THE    KOREANS 

1Y/T  ANY  changes  have  taken  place  in  Korea  since  it 
*  -*•  was  separated  from  China.  Each  year  it  be- 
comes more  liberal  and  it  is  slowly  adopting  many  of 
the  customs  of  the  more  civilized  countries.  The 
Korean  army  wears  a  uniform  similar  to  that  of  the 
Japanese,  and  it  has  been  drilled  by  different  nation- 
alities. I  could  not  learn,  however,  what  country 
claimed  the  honor  of  drilling  the  emperor's  body 
guard,  but  their  maneuvers  were  very  amusing.  It 
was  impossible  for  them  to  keep  step  and  they  were 
constantly  marching  or  almost  running  around  the 
outside  of  the  palace  wall,  playing  their  bugles  and 
laughing  like  a  lot  of  schoolboys  out  on  a  lark.  In 
one  of  the  streets  a  German  professor  gave  instruc- 
tions every  morning  to  a  number  of  Koreans  who 
constituted  what  was  known  as  the  Emperor's  brass 
band.  They  played  well  and  showed  they  were  not 
deficient  in  musical  talent. 

* 

The  fires,  which  for  so  many  centuries  were  kindled 
on  the  top  of  Nam-san  and  on  the  loftiest  of  the  other 
mountains  around  Seoul,  have  ceased  to  burn.  After 
the  shades  of  night  had  fallen,  the  height  and  size 

81 


82        NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

of  their  flame  once  informed  the  emperor  of  the  state 
of  his  country,  whether  peaceful  or  threatened  with 
internal  wars  or  the  invasion  of  foreign  foes.  Now, 
these  ancient  signals  have  been  displaced  by  the  more 
modern  invention  of  the  telegraph,  which  connects 
all  parts  of  the  empire  with  the  capital. 

Hundreds  of  women  now  walk  the  streets  with  un- 
covered faces,  though  many,  from  force  of  habit,  still 
wear  the  green  cloak  over  the  head  but  rarely  pull  it 
over  the  face.  Young  girls,  however,  still  cover  the 
face  and  live  in  seclusion.  The  style  of  dress  worn 
by  the  Korean  woman  is  a  miserable  invention.  It 
consists  of  a  perfectly  straight  skirt,  gathered  in  a 
band  of  from  five  to  six  inches  in  width,  and  a  long 
sleeved  sack  drawn  over  the  arms  and  shoulders, 
which  is  so  short  in  front  it  does  not  reach  the  band  of 
the  petticoat  by  about  five  inches,  thereby  exposing 
the  bosom  to  a  disgusting  degree. 

Korean  women  are  treated  with  great  indifference 
by  their  husbands  and  they  are  not  allowed  in  their 
presence  except  to  wait  on  them.  They  never  learn 
to  read  or  write,  only  to  slave  from  morning  to  night, 
spinning,  weaving  and  laundering  their  husband's 
clothes,  which  is  no  small  task,  for  these  clothes  are 
mostly  white  and  very  easily  soiled.  When  the  cloth 
is  woven  it  is  wound  around  wooden  rollers  and 
pounded  with  two  sticks  to  make  it  smooth  and 
straight,  and  the  tapping  of  these  sticks  can  be  heard 
from  morning  till  night.  The  white  linen  clothes 


Korean  Method  of  Smoothing  Cloth  by  Pounding  it  with  Sticks 


KOREA    AND    THE    KOREANS  83 

are  ironed  by  passing  over  them  a  pan  filled  with  live 
coals  and  shaped  like  a  small  American  frying  pan. 
The  method  of  operation  is  for  two  women  to  sit 
opposite  each  other  with  their  toes  in  the  sleeves  and 
other  parts  of  the  garment  to  stretch  it  out,  while 
one  of  them  passes  the  pan  over  it. 

The  women  are  small  and  have  bad  forms.  Their 
hair  is  generally  long  and  black,  their  eyes  large  and 
of  a  brownish  color  and  their  complexion  is  not  very 
dark,  Both  the  men  and  the  women  are  short  in 
stature,  the  men  being  about  five  feet  five  or  six 
inches  and  the  women  about  five  feet  in  height.  The 
Koreans  are  a  good  looking  race  and  do  not  resemble 
the  Chinese  or  Japanese  except  for  the  Mongolian 
eyes.  The  men  make  a  fine  appearance  on  the 
streets,  for  their  high  horsehair  hats  make  them  look 
tall,  and  they  are  generally  straight  with  well  shaped 
shoulders.  Many  Korean  boys  are  engaged  to  be 
married  at  the  age  of  eight  or  ten.  They  put  on 
high-crowned,  yellow  straw  hats  then,  and  as  much 
respect  is  shown  them  as  though  they  were  married 
men,  though  marriage  is  not  allowed  until  the  girl  is 
sixteen  and  the  boy  twenty  years  of  age. 

One  of  the  most  striking  costumes  among  the  men 
is  the  dress  of  a  mourner.  It  is  made  of  very  coarse, 
yellow  hemp  cloth,  with  a  hat  about  four  feet  in  cir- 
cumference wroven  of  bamboo.  Before  his  face,  and 
just  low  enough  to  peep  over  it,  he  carries  a  piece  of 
coarse  yellow  cloth  about  eight  inches  long  and  five 


wide,  atfached  at  each  end  to  a  stick,  and  during  the 
whole  period  of  mourning  he  wears  straw  shoes. 
This  period  of  mourning  lasts  from  twenty-four 
months  to  three  years,  and  it  is  intended  as  a  mark  of 
respect  to  the  deceased  father  of  the  mourner,  no 
other  relative  being  considered  of  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  mourn  for. 

From  the  highest  to  the  lowest  in  rank,  Koreans 
are  very  dishonest.  A  bargain  must  be  made  with 
everyone  who  does  anything  for  you,  and  even  then 
you  are  likely  to  get  the  worst  of  it  before  they  are 
through;  they  must  have  a  "  squeeze,"  as  they  call  it. 
I  had  a  guide  who  belonged  to  the  "  Yang-ban," 
which  is  the  better  class,  and  insisted  that  I  call  him 
"  Pak-Kee-Ho,"  in  order  that  the  coolies  should  show 
him  the  respect  he  was  entitled  to  on  account  of  his 
rank.  He  had  a  very  pleasing  way  of  laughing 
which  was  very  deceiving,  and  it  was  some  time  be- 
fore I  learned  not  to  mistake  his  pleasantries  for 
genuine  good  nature,  but  rather  to  recognize  them  as 
a  guise  with  which  to  cheat  me. 

The  currency  of  the  country  is  very  annoying. 
The  Japanese  yen,  worth  about  three  times  as  much 
as  the  Korean  money,  is  used  in  Seoul  and  the  seaport 
towns.  The  hotel  keepers  insist  that  they  must  be 
paid  in  yen,  but  you  must  have  Korean  money  to  pay 
the  native  people,  for  you  make  your  bargains  with 
them  in  their  own  currency.  Seoul  has  a  new  cur- 
rency which  is  worth  more  than  the  old  cashes ;  but  in 


85 

the  interior  of  the  country  they  use  the  copper  and 
iron  cashes  strung  on  grass  ropes.  It  takes  about 
1,000  of  these  to  make  a  yen,  or  fifty  cents  in  our 
money. 

The  shops  of  Seoul  were  disappointing :  there  were 
plenty  of  them  arranged  in  different  streets  accord- 
ing to  the  merchandise  sold,  but  they  contained  noth- 
ing worth  buying  except  the  Korean  cloth  of  which 
the  men's  clothes  are  made. 

Among  the  few  interesting  sights  of  Seoul  are 
a  thirteen-story  marble  pagoda  and  a  monument 
built  on  the  back  of  a  huge  granite  turtle,  both  pres- 
ents from  China  several  centuries  ago.  Three  cen- 
turies ago,  when  Korea  was  invaded  by  the  Japanese, 
they  took  off  three  stories  of  the  pagoda  and  placed 
it  on  the  ground  near  by,  and  built  fires  round  it  to 
destroy  it;  but  even  the  ravages  of  time  and  the  black- 
ening effects  of  fire  have  been  powerless  to  destroy 
the  beautiful  carvings  which  cover  the  entire  pagoda. 
It  is  hard  to  tell  what  it  represents,  though  it  is 
thought  to  be  the  Chinese  idea  of  the  soul  in  the  fu- 
ture life. 

There  are  many  denominations  of  missionaries  in 
Seoul.  I  visited  some  of  them  and  found  them  in  a 
flourishing  condition.  They  live  in  good  homes  and 
most  of  them  have  comfortable  places  in  which  to 
worship.  The  Roman  Catholic  Mission  has  the  most 
sightly  quarters,  situated  on  a  high  hill  overlooking 
Seoul,  and  the  largest  number  of  converts,  for  it  has 


86        NEWEST   WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

been  established  in  Korea  for  three  hundred  years. 
It  suffered  much  from  persecution  during  the  reign 
of  Tai- Wan-Kan,  the  father  of  the  present  emperor, 
who  had  over  two  thousand  of  these  missionaries  as- 
sassinated. The  sisters  teach  the  children  all  kinds 
of  needlework  and  to  read  and  write  French.  There 
are  also  a  number  of  Korean  sisters  who  have  been  in 
the  mission  for  years. 

It  is  an  extremely  interesting  sight  to  see  the  Ko- 
rean children  retire  for  the  night  in  the  spacious  dor- 
mitory. The  quilts  in  which  they  wrap  themselves  are 
kept  in  small  closets,  and  when  they  are  ready  to 
retire  each  child  takes  out  the  quilt  bearing  his  num- 
ber, lays  it  on  the  floor,  and  then,  lying  down  on  it, 
rolls  over  two  or  three  times  until  he  is  wrapped  up 
as  tight  as  a  silkworm.  I  asked  how  they  kept  from 
smothering  and  was  informed  that  they  never  suffered 
from  this  way  of  sleeping.  One  morning  I  attended 
eleven  o'clock  mass  to  see  the  children  in  Sunday  at- 
tire. They  were  ranged  in  classes  according  to  their 
ages,  and  each  class,  dressed  in  different  colored  Ko- 
rean gauze  cloth,  was  in  care  of  a  teacher.  They  all 
marched  in  and  knelt  in  that  part  of  the  church  re- 
served for  them,  arranging  themselves  so  that  the 
different  colors  blended  nicely.  Eight  or  ten  little 
boys  sang  the  mass  through  and  they  did  it  well.  The 
body  of  the  church  was  filled  with  women  dressed  in 
pure  white  linen,  who  looked  as  if  they  had  prepared 
themselves  for  the  resurrection  day.  The  sisters  take 


£OREA    AND    THE    KOREANS  87 

in  washing,  sewing  and  mending  in  order  to  sup- 
port the  mission,  which  was  built  by  the  contribu- 
tions of  the  native  people  and  received  no  help  from 
France. 

I  also  visited  one  of  the  Methodist  missions.  This 
denomination  had  two  divisions,  the  northern  and 
southern  Methodists,  each  of  which  seemed  to  have 
no  brotherly  love  for  the  other.  The  church,  a  present 
from  a  lady  in  Maine,  was  a  very  nice  little  building 
constructed  of  brick,  with  hard  wood  furnishings  sent 
out  from  the  States.  The  minister  was  a  tall  thin  man 
who  apparently  wished  to  impress  his  congregation 
with  his  sanctity  by  means  of  his  stiff,  unbending 
manner.  The  sermon  was  preached  in  the  Korean 
language  by  a  convert,  and  at  its  close  a  collection  was 
taken  up  and  each  of  the  one  hundred  natives  present 
rolled  his  contribution  in  a  piece  of  paper,  to  make  the 
plate  full.  When  the  preacher,  who,  up  to  this  time 
had  appeared  oblivious  to  what  was  going  on,  saw  the 
size  of  the  offering,  he  jumped  to  his  feet,  took  the 
plate  from  the  usher,  and  laying  his  long  bony  hand 
over  it,  rolled  off  a  blessing  that  might  have  been 
heard  a  block  away.  One  of  the  missionary  women 
informed  me  that  the  new  way  of  getting  money  out 
of  the  natives  was  working  like  a  charm,  the  plan 
being  to  have  each  person  roll  his  contribution  in  a 
piece  of  paper  and  put  his  name  on  it,  and  the  one  who 
gave  the  most  would  have  his  name  read  out  in  Sun- 
day School. 


When  I  was  staying  in  Chemulpo  I  met  a  lady  of 
another  denomination  from  one  of  our  Western 
States.  She  was  waiting  for  a  number  of  missiona- 
ries who  had  been  to  America  and  Japan  on  their 
vacation.  One  day  she  remarked  that  it  was  generally 
supposed  that  missionaries  were  very  religious,  but 
that  this  notion  was  a  great  mistake,  for  they  were 
really  no  more  so  than  other  people,  and  one.  could 
stay  for  weeks  with  them  and  never  suspect  their  voca- 
tion. She  told  me  it  had  been  the  custom  for  years  for 
the  missionaries  who  went  to  America  to  bring  back 
to  those  who  stayed  behind  the  last  slang  phrase, 
and  that  on  their  arrival  this  was  the  first  thing  im- 
parted. 

When  the  boat  arrived  there  were  some  seventeen 
or  more  missionaries  on  board;  I  lunched  with  them 
and  observed  that  no  blessing  was  asked  at  the  table 
nor  was  religion  or  missionary  work  referred  to  in 
any  way.  They  were  delighted  to  return  to  Korea, 
where  they  all  had  good  homes  and  plenty  of  serv- 
ants to  wait  upon  them.  For  two  or  three  weeks  they 
were  planning  a  grand  picnic  up  the  Han  River  on 
one  of  the  house-boats. 

On  one  of  the  boats,  upon  which  I  was  a  passenger, 
I  met  an  English  missionary.  He  was  a  large  man, 
some  six  feet  in  height,  and  wore  a  long  white  robe 
that  was  tied  around  the  waist  with  a  large  black  cord 
and  reached  nearly  to  his  feet.  He  sat  on  the  deck 
and  smoked  one  of  the  vilest  pipes  I  ever  smelled,  and 


South  Gate.,  Seoul 


A    Street  in  Seoul 


KOREA    AND    THE    KOREANS  89 

at  the  table  he  drank  a  quart  of  claret  at  each  meal. 
When  I  was  about  to  leave  Korea  this  same  man  came 
on  board  the  ship  to  bid  some  of  his  friends  good-by, 
and  stayed  to  dinner.  The  lady  whom  he  was  visiting 
was  a  staunch  temperance  advocate,  and  he  had  the 
presumption  to  assure  her  that  his  ideas  coincided 
with  hers ;  he  had  evidently  forgotten  that  I  had  been 
his  fellow-passenger  on  a  previous  occasion. 

Korean  soil  produces  with  very  little  farming. 
Everything  seems  to  grow  if  it  is  put  in  the  ground, 
covered  and  let  alone.  The  climate  is  good,  and  the 
rainy  season,  during  which  the  water  descends  in 
pailfuls,  extends  from  the  last  of  June  to  the  last  of 
August.  The  rest  of  the  year  the  weather  is  very 
pleasant  and  the  air  bracing  and  healthful. 

Korea  is  a  small  peninsula  on  the  northeast  coast 
of  China.  It  is  a  mountainous  country,  rich  in  min- 
erals, witH  a  population  estimated  at  16,000,000. 


CHAPTER  EIGHT 

ALONG  THE  COAST  OF  CHINA 

Tj^ROM  Chemulpo  to  Chefoo  is  about  twenty-eight 
•*•  hours,  the  shortest  route  from  Korea  to  China. 
The  first  thing  one  sees,  on  entering  the  harbor  of 
Chefoo,  is  the  American  flag  floating  from  a  staff  in 
front  of  the  American  consulate  on  the  top  of  a  high 
bluff  that  overlooks  the  harbor.  There  are  many 
other  flags  to  be  seen  on  this  bluff,  for  it  is  here  that 
the  different  consuls  reside. 

Chefoo  was  for  many  years  the  summer  resort  for 
Shanghai  people;  but,  since  Wei-hai-wei,  the  English 
possession  on  the  coast,  has  been  abandoned  as  a  mili- 
tary post,  this  has  been  converted  into  a  summer  re- 
sort, and  there  has  been  a  great  falling  off  in  the 
number  of  visitors  at  Chefoo. 

There  is  a  large  Chinese  town  situated  some  dis- 
tance from  the  foreign  settlement.  I  found  the  hotel 
there  quite  deserted,  for  the  season  was  over  and  those 
who  remained  were  waiting  for  the  races.  Among 
these  were  two  women,  one  a  Mrs.  Howton,  from 
London,  about  sixty;  the  other,  twenty-seven.  I  soon 
learned  from  the  conversation  of  the  older  woman 
that  she  had  been  systematically  bringing  out  her  mar- 
riageable female  relatives  and  marrying  them  off  in 

90 


91 

China.  Now  she  had  only  one  more  on  her  hands, 
and  she  hoped  to  dispose  of  her  at  the  races. 

This  young  lady  she  introduced  to  me  as  her  niece, 
Angelia  Ainslie.  She  was  a  very  tall  young  person, 
with  large  feet,  long  arms  and  a  bony  neck,  which, 
after  the  English  style,  she  uncovered  at  dinner.  This 
style  consists  of  a  long  train  with  almost  no  waist  at 
all.  She  had  rather  a  pretty  face,  but  wore  a  troubled 
expression,  as  her  aunt  was  constantly  schooling  her 
in  the  arts  necessary  to  catch  a  husband.  The  poor 
girl  would  sometimes  break  down  and  declare  she 
would  rather  go  back  home  and  never  marry  than  stay 
with  her  old  termagant  of  an  aunt;  but  the  intrepid 
matchmaker  paid  no  attention  to  her  niece's  com- 
plaints, and  kept  herself  well  filled  with  whisky  and 
soda,  her  eagle  eye  meanwhile  scanning  the  field  for 
every  eligible  man  that  might  appear,  and  promptly 
seeing  to  it  that  he  was  presented  to  her  niece  without 
delay. 

She  instructed  the  girl  to  look  young  and  childlike, 
and  when  the  young  men  invited  her  to  go  anywhere, 
she  was  to  say,  "  You  know  I  am  chaperoned  by 
Auntie,  and  I  would  like  her  to  accompany  me."  In 
this  way  the  aunt  managed  to  go  to  many  places  with- 
out expense,  and  she  could  engineer  her  matrimonial 
schemes.  She  looked  forward  to  the  races  as  an  op- 
portunity to  accomplish  her  matchmaking  designs 
without  trouble,  for  men  come  from  all  along  the 
coast,  and  there  are  usually  six  to  every  woman.  She 


92         NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

had  ner  niece  dressed  in  her  smartest  gown  and  seated 
where  she  could  be  seen  by  all  the  gentlemen  at  the 
races,  while  she  herself  was  constantly  on  the  lookout 
for  the  one  who,  in  her  estimation,  was  the  best  catch. 

At  last  she  spied  a  young  English  officer  who  had 
been  in  China  with  his  regiment  only  a  short  time. 
He  had  one  of  the  best  ponies  on  the  ground,  and  was 
to  compete  for  the  ladies'  prize.  She  at  once  disclosed 
her  plans  to  her  niece,  telling  her  how  she  had  once 
caught  an  officer  for  her  daughter,  and  that  she  wished 
her  to  marry  as  well  as  her  cousin  iiad  done.  Forth- 
with, she  and  her  niece  entered  the  betting  circle  and 
commenced  to  play  on  the  pony,  complimenting  it 
until  they  completely  won  the  admiration  of  its  owner, 
who  was  very  much  in  love  with  its  running  qualities. 
He  invited  them  to  have  some  champagne  as  a  token 
of  his  appreciation  of  their  superior  discernment,  and 
the  old  lady  at  once  began  her  campaign  by  sounding 
the  young  man  to  discover  his  vulnerable  points,  in 
order  that  she  might  take  her  cue. 

She  was  not  long  in  learning  that  he  was  very  home- 
sick and  wanted  to  go  back  to  England  to  see  his  peo- 
ple. At  once  she  pictured  to  him,  in  touching  lan- 
guage, how  she  had  suffered  when  she  came  out  to 
China;  then  she  called  her  niece  and  recounted  how 
she,  too,  had  mourned  and  wept  her  exile  from  home, 
though  she  omitted  to  mention  the  real  cause  of  her 
niece's  sorrow.  She  wiped  her  eyes  and  the  young 
woman  wiped  hers.  At  this  impressive  moment  she 


ALONG    THE    COAST    OF    CHINA  93 

told  him  how  glad  she  would  be  to  take  the  place  of 
his  mother,  while  her  niece  would  be  a  sister  to  him. 

By  these  maneuvers  they  quite  won  the  young 
man's  confidence,  and  they  continued  their  cunning 
devices  until  the  last  day  of  the  races,  when  they  suc- 
cessfully bagged  their  game.  The  old  lady  took  a 
number  of  whiskies  and  sodas  to  celebrate  the  event, 
and  went  to  bed,  leaving  the  young  people  to  stroll  in 
the  garden  under  the  light  of  the  pale  moon. 

Chefoo  is  noted  for  the  mutton  produced  in  the 
neighborhood  and  considered  the  best  in  China. 
American  missionaries  who  have  been  in  this  part  of 
the  country  for  years  have  introduced  many  kinds  of 
American  fruits,  which  produce  abundantly  and  of 
excellent  quality.  There  is  a  large  mission  school 
there,  said  to  be  the  best  in  the  East,  and  patronized 
by  foreigners  from  all  parts  of  Japan  and  China; 
there  are  no  English  schools  except  those  conducted 
by  the  missionaries.  Some  of  these  missionaries,  as 
in  other  parts  of  China,  dress  in  the  Chinese  fashion, 
shave  their  heads  and  wear  the  queue,  but  they  have 
very  little  respect  from  the  natives,  who  speak  of 
them  as  "no  Chinamen,  only  try  to  foolee  China- 
man." 

The  only  means  of  getting  around  is  by  sedan 
chairs,  and  almost  everyone  has  a  chair  and  coolies, 
whom  they  dress  in  all  sorts  of  livery  to  suit  their  taste. 
I  saw  great,  healthy  Englishmen  get  into  chairs  to 
be  carried  only  a  few  yards,  for  it  is  not  the  style  to 


94       NEWEST   WAY   ROUND   THE   WORLD 

walk,  you  know,  when  for  a  small  sum  you  can  get  a 
coolie  to  carry  you.  There  is  little  doubt  that  many 
of  these  people  never  had  a  servant  until  they  came  to 
China,  and  thought  nothing  of  a  five-mile  walk.  The 
inactive  lives  they  lead,  coupled  with  the  climate,  soon 
cause  the  women  to  lose  their  healthy  English  color, 
and,  as  might  be  said,  to  utterly  collapse;  they  grow 
pale  as  death,  and  have  to  go  home  to  recuperate. 

The  races  at  Chef  oo  are  the  event  of  the  year.  All 
business  is  at  a  standstill  while  the  foreign  settlement 
dons  its  smartest  clothes  and  goes  to  the  racecourse, 
which  is  situated  on  a  pretty  piece  of  ground  at  one 
end  of  the  harbor,  two  miles  from  the  foreign  settle- 
ment. You  may  choose  between  two  ways  of  reach- 
ing it,  one  by  means  of  a  small  launch,  which  subjects 
you  to  the  drawback  of  a  probable  wetting  when  you 
land,  the  other  to  be  carried  in  a  chair  by  coolies.  I 
chose  the  latter  rather  than  risk  the  wetting,  but  I 
soon  regretted  my  choice,  for  my  route  led  through 
Chinatown,  and  I  am  sure  everything,  from  a  China- 
man to  a  rat,  must  have  been  dead  along  that  road. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  was  literally  true  and  no 
mere  figure  of  speech.  In  addition  to  this,  the  other 
filth  that  filled  the  streets  made  it  unbearable.  In  one 
of  the  dirtiest  streets  my  chair  rope  suddenly  broke, 
and  let  me  down  with  a  tremendous  thud  right  into 
the  filth,  but  fortunately  the  chair  saved  me  from  get- 
ting into  it.  Nevertheless,  there  I  had  to  sit  and  wait 
until  new  ropes  could  be  procured  and  the  chair  re- 


ALONG   THE    COAST    OF    CHINA  95 

paired.    It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  the  state 
of  my  feelings  when  I  again  resumed  my  journey. 

Arriving  at  the  grounds,  I  found  the  track  and  the 
grandstand  roped  off  by  barbed  wire  to  keep  out 
about  two  thousand  Chinamen  who  had  assembled  out 
of  curiosity,  to  beg,  and  sell  Chinese  chow  (food). 
The  grandstand  was  built  of  bamboo  poles  covered 
with  coarse  bamboo  matting,  and  some  common  chairs 
were  placed  along  the  front  for  the  accommodation 
of  the  people.  In  all  there  were  about  fifty  foreign- 
ers, and  thirty  Chinese  ponies  that  looked  like  a  lot  of 
poorly-kept  farm  horses.  It  was  evident  from  their 
appearance  that  they  had  never  been  combed  nor 
brushed,  but  they  all  had  been  washed  and  had  new 
white  bridles  and  saddles.  Each  was  put  on  the  scales 
and  weighed.  The  riders  went  through  the  same  per- 
formance, and  those  who  fell  short  of  the  standard 
weight  had  lead  sewed  in  their  pockets  to  make  up  the 
deficit.  The  riders,  with  one  or  twro  exceptions,  were 
Englishmen  and  the  owners  of  the  ponies,  and  called 
themselves  gentlemen  jockeys.  When  they  mounted 
they  simply  stepped  over  the  backs  of  the  diminutive 
steeds,  which,  in  fact,  wrere  so  small  that  it  was  neces- 
sary for  the  rider  to  perch  his  feet  up  on  the  sides  or 
let  them  sail  out  behind  in  most  ridiculous  fashion. 
One  of  the  riders  had  his  saddle  turned  on  the  home 
stretch,  and  his  weight  rolled  the  pony  over  into  the 
ditch.  The  big  Englishman  covered  the  ditch  for  at 
least  six  feet,  but  the  pony  went  completely  out  of 


96        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

sight.  Some  coolies  lifted  the  little  creature  out  and 
washed  it  off  in  a  common  tub,  to  prepare  it  for  the 
next  race. 

The  grand  finale,  the  race  for  the  ladies'  prize, 
came  at  last,  and  everyone  stood  on  tiptoe  as  the  po- 
nies came  to  the  ribbons  for  the  final  start.  The 
grandstand  actually  trembled  with  the  excitement  of 
the  spectators,  and  coolies  wrere  called  to  hold  it  up 
lest  it  fall.  The  first  pony  made  a  mile  in  five  min- 
utes, the  second  in  seven  minutes,  and  the  third  in 
nine  minutes.  The  crowd  got  beyond  control  with 
excitement  over  such  phenomenal  speed,  and  the  offi- 
cer who  owned  the  prize-winner  was  so  overcome  that 
he  forgot  to  thank  the  lady  who  handed  him  the 
"  beautiful  prize,-"  as  she  called  the  little  silver  match- 
safe  tied  with  three  yards  of  cheap  pink  ribbon.  The 
races  lasted  three  days,  and  the  men  and  the  women 
played  them  alike.  The  men  who  won  the  most  money 
gave  a  champagne  dinner  to  the  losers  and  out-of- 
town  horsemen,  and  the  hotel  managers  served  lunch- 
eons on  the  ground  at  so  much  per  plate,  but  there 
were  many  private  luncheons  to  "  our  set,"  for  it  was 
"  very  English,  you  know.". 


CHAPTER   NINE 

SHANGHAI,  QUEEN    OF    THE    EAST 


t^ROM  Chef  oo  to  Shanghai  was  rather  a  tedious 
trip.  The  boat  was  lightly  loaded  and  rolled 
about  a  good  deal.  On  my  way  to  the  shore  I  saw 
many  Chinese  junks  with  their  great  round  eyes  on 
either  side  of  the  prow,  placed  there  so  that  the  men 
could  see  the  devils  and  keep  out  of  their  way.  "  No 
can  see  —  no  can  sail,"  as  the  Chinese  say. 

At  the  landing  there  was  a  great  number  of  coolies 
waiting  for  the  passengers,  for  the  hotels  do  not  send 
porters  to  meet  the  small  boats.  All  the  passengers 
with  the  exception  of  myself  were  residents  of  China. 
The  coolies  are  able  to  spot  the  strangers  at  once. 
They  stand  back  from  the  residents  in  respectful  awe, 
and  wait  until  they  are  asked  for  a  wheelbarrow  or  a 
riksha,  knowing  well  from  past  experiences  what  will 
happen  if  they  are  too  aggressive.  I  was  the  only 
non-resident,  as  I  have  said,  and  moreover  a  woman 
alone  ;  so  the  whole  crowd  made  for  me.  The  licensed 
wheelbarrow  coolies  thrust  their  great  red  cards  with 
black  numbers  into  my  face,  to  hold  as  security  for 
the  delivery  of  my  baggage,  while  a  dozen  or  more 
riksha  coolies  stood  on  either  side  ready  to  seize  my 
hand-bag  and  haul  me  off  to  the  hotel.  One  of  the 

97 


98        NEWEST   WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

officers  of  the  ship  had  come  to  see  us  safely  landed, 
and  seeing  my  plight,  he  came  to  my  rescue  and  sent 
a  half  dozen  of  my  tormentors  rolling  down  the  hill. 
I  had  no  more  trouble  after  that,  and  soon  had  my 
baggage  loaded  onto  a  wheelbarrow;  a  most  cumber- 
some conveyance,  but  the  only  means  of  transporta- 
tion among  the  common  people.  They  take  a  wheel- 
barrow for  a  pleasure  ride,  just  as  the  better  classes 
take  a  riksha  or  a  carriage,  and  one  often  sees  a  China- 
man and  his  five  or  six  wives  and  two  or  three  pigs 
seated  on  a  wheelbarrow  going  to  market.  The 
squeaking  of  the  ungreased  wheels  as  they  roll  along 
the  streets  is  almost  enough  to  give  one  nervous 
prostration. 

I  found  the  Astor  House  much  enlarged  and  im- 
proved since  it  had  been  sold  to  a  stock  company,  but 
those  who  stopped  there  when  it  was  owned  and  run 
by  Mrs.  Jansen,  greatly  missed  both  her  and  her  esti- 
mable family.  I  have  never  met  more  charming 
people  anywhere.  The  foreign  settlements  are  situ- 
ated along  the  Bund,  a  wide  pretty  street  in  front  of 
the  harbor.  There  is  no  general  city  government; 
the  English  and  the  American  settlements  have 
united  under  one  set  of  governing  laws,  while  the 
French  have  their  own.  All,  however,  have  their 
separate  post  offices. 

There  are  more  English  than  any  other  foreigners 
and  Shanghai  is  as  British  as  though  it  were  a  colony 
of  Great  Britain.  The  English  settlement  calls  itself 


SHANGHAI,    QUEEN    OF    THE    EAST        99 

the  "  Model  Settlement."  Its  streets  are  as  clean  as 
a  floor,  it  is  well  governed  and  guarded  by  no  less 
than  three  different  nationalities.  The  tall,  dark- 
skinned  sikhs  from  India  are  the  most  noticeable  of 
these  policemen,  with  twenty  yards  of  cloth  wrapped 
round  their  heads  into  a  huge  turban.  The  English 
settlement  would  like  to  be  considered  very  demo- 
cratic, for  it  is  always  poking  fun  at  the  snobbery 
of  Hongkong,  thereby  leading  one  to  infer  that  this 
form  of  petty  vanity  is  unknown  in  Shanghai.  The 
following  will  illustrate  the  extent  of  their  democracy 
and  lack  of  snobbery: 

Many  of  the  captains  and  officers  of  the  different 
steamship  lines  live  in  Shanghai,  but  as  soon  as  the 
boat  comes  up  to  the  dock,  the  "lands-people,"  as 
the  smart  set  call  themselves,  never  speak  to  the  ship- 
ping people,  who  constitute  a  distinct  society  of  their 
own,  and  innkeepers,  shopkeepers  and  their  families 
are  not  eligible  to  this  choice  circle  either.  It  is  very 
evident  that  the  majority  of  the  English  people  liv- 
ing in  Shanghai  belonged  to  the  middle  classes  and 
had  to  work  hard  for  a  living  in  their  own  country, 
but  when  they  come  to  China  and  make  a  little  money 
they  are  so  set  up  that  they  treat  their  less  fortunate 
countrymen  with  utter  contempt. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  smart  set  come 
out  for  a  drive  on  the  Bund,  the  Nankin  Road,  the 
Moloon  Road  and  the  Bubbling  Well  Road,  not  in 
rikshas,  for  these  are  no  longer  used  by  the  smart  set, 


100        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

but  in  full-size  carriages  that  look  very  cumbersome 
and  heavy  for  the  little  Chinese  ponies.  The  most 
ridiculous  sight  is  the  livery  of  the  coachman  and 
tiger.  I  thought  the  first  carriage  I  saw  thus  at- 
tended was  some  kind  of  an  oriental  show,  and  was 
greatly  surprised  when  I  found  that  the  person  in  the 
carriage  belonged  to  the  smart  set  of  Shanghai,  and 
that  my  lady  was  very  proud  of  the  livery  of  her 
coachmen,  having  spent  many  days  in  racking  her 
brain  to  create  the  hideous  garb. 

Time  never  weighs  heavily  upon  the  hands  of  the 
English  settlement,  for  they  have  various  ways  of 
disposing  of  their  leisure  hours.  There  is  a  fine  club- 
house where  they  meet  for  social  intercourse,  and 
those*  who  en  joy 'out  door  sports  have  a  variety  of 
diversions  to  choose  from.  The  races  occur  twice  a 
year  on  a  fine  race  course  near  the  Moloon  Road,  and 
once  a  year  the  boat  races  take  place.  Then  there  is 
a  polo  ground,  tennis  courts,  golf  links,  baseball,  and 
cricket  grounds,  besides  any  number  of  private  din- 
ners and  balls. 

I  visited  Old  Chinatown  in  Shanghai.  On  this 
occasion,  as  I  entered  the  gate,  I  saw  three  or  four 
lepers  on  either  side  of  it,  who  were  there  to  beg.  It 
was  a  disgusting  sight  but  one  must  expect  all  these 
things  when  visiting  Chinatown.  An  old  Chinaman 
who  lived  near  the  gate  acted  as  my  guide,  and  we 
walked  for  three  hours  through  the  narrow  winding 
streets,  the  roofs  of  the  houses  often  meeting  over  our 


The  Bund,  SJianghai 


A  Street  in  Chinatown,  Shanghai 


SHANGHAI,    QUEEN    OF    THE    EAST      101 

heads.  There  were  hundreds  of  little  shops  that  con- 
tained many  pretty  things.  I  went  to  see  one  of  the 
largest  opium  dens  in  the  old  city.  There  were  some 
fifteen  or  twenty  Chinamen  lying  around  on  mats, 
with  their  heads  resting  on  wooden  pillows.  Gen- 
erally on  each  mat  there  were  two  who  lay  facing 
each  other  with  a  lighted  lamp  between  them.  They 
take  a  piece  of  opium,  make  it  into  a  ball  and  stick  it 
onto  a  long  hollow  pipe,  which  they  turn  upside  down 
over  the  lamp  while  they  inhale  the  fumes.  In  the 
streets  of  Shanghai  one  can  see  Chinamen  going 
home  from  the  opium  dens  almost  falling  out  of 
their  rikshas  as  they  sleep  off  the  effects  of  their 
debauch. 

The  costumes  of  the  different  "classes  of  Chinese 
seen  on  the  streets  are  quite  striking.  The  well-to-do 
Chinaman's  garments  are  made  of  the  finest  brocade 
silks,  the  women's  trousers  and  sacks  of  the  finest 
satins,  and  these  sacks  are  elaborately  embroidered. 
On  their  heads  they  wear  a  gorgeous  headdress  made 
of  pearls.  The  garments  of  the  common  people,  both 
men  and  women,  are  made  of  blue  denim. 

For  some  time  before  I  reached  Shanghai  I  had 
been  waiting  patiently  for  an  opportunity  to  turn  my 
wardrobe  over  to  the  Chinese  tailors  of  the  city  to  be 
repaired  and  pressed,  for  my  long  journey  had  made 
it  disgraceful.  I  found  the  usual  number  of  tailors 
waiting  in  the  halls  of  the  hotel  for  the  passengers 
from  the  steamer,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  practicable 


102        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE   WORLD 

for  me  to  do  so,  I  divided  up  my  wardrobe  among 
them  for  the  necessary  repairs.  These  tailors  are  a 
great  convenience  to  travellers,  it  is  true,  but  there 
are  some  disagreeable  things  about  dealing  with 
them,  for  you  must  make  a  hard-and-fast  bargain  for 
everything  they  do,  and  the  amount  of  haggling  it 
takes  before  a  satisfactory  understanding  is  reached 
is  often  very  annoying. 

In  some  instances  I  have  been  greatly  irritated  by 
their  constant  solicitations.  There  was  one  who  had 
done  a  good  deal  of  work  for  me  at  different  times 
when  I  visited  Shanghai.  He  did  his  work  reason- 
ably and  very  well,  but  there  was  simply  no  getting 
rid  of  him.  No  matter  how  many  times  I  told  him  I 
required  nothing  more  he  came  to  see  me  just  the 
same,  as  often  as  a  dozen  times  a  day,  each  time 
inquiring  if  I  had  not  changed  my  mind,  and  if  I  did 
not  want  something  more  made.  Once  he  took  it  into 
his  head  to  sell  me  a  Chinese  sable  scarf,  for  he  could 
not  sell  me  any  more  clothes.  This  scarf  was  mis- 
erably made,  for  the  Chinese  are  no  furriers.  I  told 
him  repeatedly  I  would  not  buy  it  but  he  continued 
to  bring  it  to  my  room  and  beg  me  to  take  it.  At  last 
I  became  desperate  at  this  constant  annoyance  and 
locked  my  doors.  I  told  my  Chinese  boy  not  to  let 
him  into  my  rooms  and  supposed  I  was  rid  of  him 
for  I  did  not  see  him  for  a  day  or  two.  One  day, 
however,  I  was  standing  near  the  dressing  case,  when 
his  face  appeared  in  the  mirror.  He  startled  me  so 


SHANGHAI,  QUEEN  OF  THE  EAST   103 

I  nearly  fainted  for  I  supposed  it  must  be  his  ghost; 
but  turning  round,  there  he  was,  smiling  serenely 
and  holding  the  piece  of  fur  in  his  hand.  There  was 
nothing  in  reach  but  the  shovel  and  tongs  so  I  seized 
them  and  told  him  if  he  bothered  me  any  more  I 
would  break  every  bone  in  his  body.  He  got  out  of 
my  room  in  a  hurry,  climbed  through  a  high  window 
in  my  bathroom  and  I  never  saw  him  again.  This 
experience  taught  me  that  locks  and  keys  are  no 
barriers  to  Chinese  tailors  when  they  want  to  get  into 
one's  room  to  sell  something. 

I  was  seven  days  in  Shanghai,  one  day  resembling 
another  as  much  as  two  peas  in  a  pod;  it  seemed  al- 
most a  useless  expenditure  of  time  to  post  up  my 
diary,  for  each  day,  with  a  few  exceptions,  read  just 
like  the  one  before  and  something  like  this: — 

"  I  was  awakened  this  morning  at  five  by  the  gab- 
bling of  the  Chinese  servants  in  the  hall,  as  this  is 
about  the  time  they  arrive  at  the  hotel.  Arose  at  six 
and  unlocked  all  my  doors.  In  a  few  minutes  in 
came  the  boy  who  built  the  fires.  Before  he  was 
through  the  room  boy  arrived  with  six  o'clock  tea. 
Ten  minutes  later  the  room  boy  returned  for  the 
waiter.  Fell  into  a  doze  for  a  few  moments,  to  be 
awakened  by  the  bathroom  boy  who  wanted  to  know 
whether  I  would  have  my  bath  cold  or  hot.  Presently 
the  Chinese  bootblack  arrived  with  my  shoes,  then  the 
room  boy  returned  with  my  clothing,  which  he  had 
brushed.  Now  there  was  a  general  exodus  of  all 


Chinese  boys.  I  arose,  locked  my  doors,  took  my 
bath,  dressed  and  went  to  breakfast.  Bought  a  morn- 
ing paper,  after  breakfast  stopped  in  the  hotel  read- 
ing room  for  an  hour  or  two,  then  returned  to  my 
room.  Later,  I  left  the  hotel  to  go  shopping  in  the 
Chinese  stores,  where  all  kinds  of  beautiful  silks,  em- 
broideries, drawrn  work,  gold  and  silver  jewelry  and 
different  kinds  of  silverware  can  be  bought.  Found 
many  wonderful  bargains  but  now  I  am  beginning 
to  be  alarmed  as  to  how  I  am  going  to  get  all  my 
purchases  into  my  trunks.  Returned  to  the  hotel  for 
tiffin  (the  term  used  for  luncheon  in  the  East) ;  after 
tiffin  varied  the  program  a  little,  and  went  either  to 
old  Chinatown  or  dropped  into  the  Chinese  theater 
or  restaurant." 

On  several  afternoons  I  went  shopping  among  the 
different  foreign  stores,  for  Shanghai  has  many  of 
them  and  some  very  good  ones.  There  is  one  large 
department  store,  three  stories  high,  and  here  I  went 
one  afternoon  to  buy  a  pair  of  gloves.  I  was  told  I 
would  find  them  on  the  second  floor  and  I  started  to 
go  up  the  stairs,  when  the  manager  called  to  me  and 
said,  "  I  am  sure  you  are  an  American  and  I  want 
you  to  go  up  in  our  lift,  for  I  know  you  have  them 
in  all  of  your  large  stores."  I  proceeded  to  follow 
him  to  the  door  where  he  touched  a  button,  and  pres- 
ently there  was  a  grating,  squeaking  sound,  which  I 
was  told  was  caused  by  the  elevator  machinery  for 
the  damp  climate  is  very  hard  OH  all  machinery  in 


A  Typical  Opium  Den  in  China 


A  Chinese  Court  of  Justice 


SHANGHAI,  QUEEN  OF  THE  EAST   105 

Shanghai.  I  was  also  told  that  tHe  elevator  was  used 
only  on  extra  occasions  and  that  it  had  not  been  oiled 
for  some  time.  At  last  the  elevator  boy  succeeded  in 
stopping  it  so  that  I  could  get  in,  but  it  was  still 
squeaking  worse  than  a  Chinese  wheelbarrow.  We 
started,  but  when  we  were  about  half  way  up  it 
stopped,  and  it  was  five  minutes  before  it  could  be 
made  to  budge.  At  last  we  reached  the  upper  story 
but  it  took  another  five  minutes  before  it  could  be 
made  to  stop  the  right  height  for  me  to  get  out.  I 
told  the  boy  not  to  think  of  waiting  for  me  for  it 
would  be  some  time  before  I  would  be  ready  and  I 
preferred  to  walk  down  the  stairs.  When  I  came 
down  the  manager  asked  me  how  I  liked  my  ride  in 
their  "lift"  and  I  told  him  it  was  a  dream;  but  I 
was  careful  never  again  to  go  into  that  store  for  fear 
I  would  be  asked  again  to  ride  in  the  "  lift." 

I  hardly  ever  missed  returning  to  the  hotel  for 
afternoon  tea,  which  was  served  at  four  o'clock,  and 
this  was  really  the  most  enjoyable  part  of  the  day. 
I  had  some  friends  who  usually  came  around  to  the 
hotel  to  take  tea  with  me,  and  often  they  stayed  to 
dinner.  Among  the  number  was  a  Miss  Sisco,  a  very 
bright  little  lady,  who  was  one  of  the  associate  editors 
of  the  Shanghai  Times,  the  largest  and  most  enter- 
prising newspaper  in  the  Far  East.  I  had  first  met 
her  when  she  came  to  the  hotel  to  interview  me  for  the 
paper  regarding  my  trip  over  the  Great  Siberian 
Railroad,  and  her  article  was  one  of  the  cleverest 


106      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

^vriteups  I  ever  had.  It  was  over  two  columns  in 
length,  and  the  Manila  Times  copied  it  and  sent  me 
several  of  the  papers.  I  felt  this  quite  a  compliment 
for  newspapers  in  the  far  East  are  not  at  all  liberal 
with  their  notices  of  strangers. 


CHAPTER   TEN 

CITIES    OF    THE    YANGTZE    RIVER 

day  while  I  was  in  Shanghai,  I  went  to  the 
French  settlement,  and  lying  alongside  the  wharf 
was  the  S.  S.  Pekin,  which  had  carried  me  up  the 
Yangtze  River  in  December,  1897.  The  Pekin  is 
owned  by  an  English  company,  but  it  is  built  like  an 
American  river  boat  of  about  1000  tonnage,  with 
paddle  wheels  and  walking-beam  engine.  On  this 
occasion  she.  was  used  only  as  a  substitute  while  the 
boat  that  makes  the  regular  run  was  being  repaired. 
She  was  much  too  large  and  drew  too  much  water 
for  the  conditions  of  the  river  at  that  time,  and  we 
had  to  stop  every  night  and  creep  along  in  the  day- 
time. It  is  six  hundred  miles  from  Shanghai  to 
Hankow  and  we  wrere  over  ten  days  making  the  round 
trip,  which  is  usually  made  by  the  regular  boat  in  half 
that  time.  It  was  fortunate  for  me,  however,  for  it 
enabled  me  to  see  the  river  by  daylight  both  ways. 
Although  we  traveled  nearly  all  the  way  under  dark 
skies,  and  raw  cold  winds  blew  all  the  time,  with  sev- 
eral rainfalls,  it  was  one  of  the  most  enjoyable  trips 
I  have  ever  taken.  There  were  few  passengers  either 
way,  and  though  all  were  at  first  very  much  disgusted 
with  the  delays  and  the  slow  time  made  by  the  boat, 
strange  to  say  everybody  recovered  from  the  seeming 

107 


108      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

hurry  and  before  we  landed,  expressed  themselves  as 
sorry  that  the  journey  had  come  to  an  end. 

Shanghai  is  situated  on  the  Hwang-pu  river, 
twelve  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Yangtze,  and  it 
takes  the  boat  about  an  hour  to  run  down  the  river 
to  the  point  at  which  the  former  empties  into  an 
estuary  of  the  latter.  The  boats  have  some  difficulty 
in  passing  out  of  the  river  into  the  open  sea  on  ac- 
count of  the  sandbars  at  its  mouth.  It  is  only  a  short 
distance  from  here  to  the  point  where  the  Yangtze 
is  entered,  and  it  looks  very  little  like  a  river,  for  it 
spreads  out  like  an  immense  sea  and  continues  this 
way  for  some  distance.  We  made  no  ports  the  first 
day  but  as  it  began  to  get  dark  we  stopped  for  the 
night  and  the  captain  said  we  were  near  "  Langshan  " 
crossing,  one  of  the  most  dangerous  places  in  the 
river.  He  said  that  a  number  of  boats  had  been  lost 
on  the  rocks  here  and  that  since  these  accidents  none 
of  the  captains  would  cross  it  after  dark. 

As  soon  as  dinner  was  over  all  the  passengers 
seated  themselves  around  the  stove  in  the  dining 
saloon,  for  it  was  quite  cold  and  it  was  not  long  before 
we  all  felt  acquainted  with  each  other.  There  were 
three  other  ladies  besides  myself  and  the  first  officer's 
wife,  who  stayed  in  her  cabin  almost  all  the  way  on 
account  of  ill  health.  Two  of  the  ladies  were  mis- 
sionary doctors,  one  from  my  own  town,  Chicago, 
and  the  other  from  Cleveland,  Ohio.  Both  were  sta- 
tioned at  Nankin  and  the  account  they  gave  of  their 


CITIES    OF    THE    YANGTZE    RIVER      109 

seven  years'  practice  among  the  Chinese  was  most 
interesting.  They  said  that  between  3000  and  4000 
Chinese  were  treated  in  their  hospitals  and  free  dis- 
pensaries each  year,  and  that  the  Chinese  as  a  race 
were  not  healthy,  nor  were  they  long  lived.  The 
women,  they  declared,  were  more  unhealthy  than  the 
men,  and  they  attributed  the  fact  to  the  practice  of 
binding  the  feet  which  prevents  the  blood  from  cir- 
culating, thereby  causing  the  feet  to  become  badly 
diseased  and  the  whole  body  affected. 

The  other  lady  was  a  young  Englishwoman  who 
had  been  to  Shanghai  on  a  visit  and  was  returning 
home.  She  said  her  husband  owned  two  albumen  fac- 
tories at  Chinkiang,  and  that  more  than  half  of  the 
eggs  used  were  gathered  from  wild  fowls'  nests  along 
the  Yangtze  river.  She  told  me  I  would  be  surprised 
at  the  number  of  these  birds  on  the  river,  for  often 
the  boats  ran  into  such  flocks  of  ducks  that  the  flap- 
ping of  their  wings  sounded  like  distant  thunder  as 
they  rose  from  the  water.  She  said  that  the  hunters 
would  bring  game  of  all  kinds  at  the  different  places 
where  we  would  land  to  be  sold  on  the  boat,  and  it 
could  be  bought  for  almost  nothing,  a  deer  often 
selling  for  one  Mexican  dollar.  She  explained  that 
the  reason  why  there  were  so  many  wild  birds  and 
animals  in  China  was  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  people 
were  Buddhists;  this  religion  forbids  the  killing  of 
them,  for  they  may  be  a  friend  or  relative  in  the 
transmigratory  state.  Since  foreigners  have  come  to 


110        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

China  the  game  has  been  fast  disappearing,  for  in 
many  instances  the  hunters  have  killed  quantities  of 
it  for  sport  and  it  will  not  be  long  before  it  will  be  a 
thing  of  the  past,  for  the  Chinese  will  never  have 
laws  passed  to  prevent  it. 

The  next  day,  before  I  was  up,  the  boat  was  under 
way  and  we  soon  came  in  sight  of  the  great  fortifica- 
tions at  Kiangyin  that  stand  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
river  surrounded  by  a  number  of  hills.  It  is  a  well- 
fortified  place  and  I  was  told  that  the  Chinese  receive 
their  military  instructions  from  foreigners.  During 
the  day  several  large  wood  rafts  passed  us  on  their 
way  down  the  river.  The  wood  that  composed  them 
was  cut  near  the  head  of  the  Yangtze  River,  where 
it  usually  takes  a  year  to  cut  it,  build  the  raft  and 
float  it  down  the  river.  Many  of  these  rafts  contain 
over  one  hundred  persons. 

The  houses  were  built  along  streets  that  appeared 
like  floating  villages.  Late  in  the  afternoon  a  pretty 
sight  was  pointed  out  as  Silver  Island.  It  is  partly 
fortified  and  only  a  short  distance  from  Chinkiang, 
our  first  stopping  place.  Here  our  English  lady  left 
us.  I  found  it  quite  an  important  place,  for  it  is 
situated  at  the  head  of  Grand  Canal  and  serves  as 
the  shipping  port  for  the  quantities  of  merchandise 
which  are  constantly  arriving  from  the  interior.  After 
leaving  here  we  made  the  usual  stop  for  the  night, 
which  was  disappointing  to  the  mission  ladies  for  they 
had  hoped  to  reach  their  destination  before  this  time, 


The  Emperor  of  China  Sledging  on  the  Lake 
in  the  Palace  Gardens 


The  Emperor's  Throne  Room,  Pekin 


CITIES    OF    THE    YANGTZE    RIVER      111 

and  we  did  not  arrive  at  Nankin  until  four  o'clock  the 
next  afternoon. 

Nankin  was  the  southern  capital  during  the  Ming 
dynasty.  Like  all  Chinese  towns  it  is  walled  in,  and 
its  walls  are  built  like  those  which  surround  Pekin, 
two  walls  with  the  space  between  filled  with  earth  and 
wide  enough  for  four  or  five  persons  to  ride  abreast 
on  it  around  the  city.  Some  of  the  tombs  of  the 
Mings  are  here  but  they  are  very  plain  compared 
with  the  thirteen  Ming  tombs  situated  near  Pekin. 
Nankin  is  celebrated  for  the  beauty  of  its  silks,  con- 
sidered the  best  in  China,  and  its  looms,  with  those  of 
Soo-chow,  Hang-chow  and  Canton,  supply  all  the 
silk  used  by  the  Imperial  family. 

The  spot  where  once  stood  the  famous  porcelain 
pagoda  of  Nankin,  the  finest  ever  built  in  China,  is 
duly  pointed  out  to  strangers.  It  was  erected  to  the 
memory  of  his  mother  by  the  Emperor  Yung-loh  who 
ascended  the  throne  in  1403  and  devoted  nineteen  of 
the  twenty-two  years  of  his  reign  to  the  erection  of 
this  pagoda.  It  was  a  nine-storied  octagon,  279  feet 
in  height,  and  cost  a  million  dollars.  This  pagoda 
stood  for  nearly  five  hundred  years  and  was  destroyed 
at  the  time  of  the  uprising  of  the  Taipings  in  1856. 
Nankin  is  one  of  the  most  important  cities  in  China. 
Though  situated  some  distance  from  the  place  where 
the  boats  land,  it  can  be  plainly  seen.  It  is  well 
fortified  and  usually  there  are  a  number  of  war  ships 
in  the  harbor  for  protection. 


NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

After  leaving  Nankin  we  again  stopped  for  the 
night  and  I  was  the  only  passenger  on  board.  The 
first  officer's  wife  had  now  recovered  from  her  illness 
and  she  was  able  to  be  at  the  table  and  to  sit  with  me 
a  short  time  after  dinner.  She  said  her  long  stay  in 
China  had  completely  broken  down  her  health;  and 
though  she  was  a  native  of  Australia,  she  had  found 
the  climate  of  China  much  more  unhealthy.  This 
seemed  strange,  for  Australia  has  a  fearful  climate 
very  much  like  that  of  China  only  the  seasons  are 
reversed,  with  December  and  January  the  hot,  sultry 
months,  and  July  and  August  the  cool,  damp  ones. 
This  lady  had  been  a  beauty  at  one  time,  but  ill 
health  had  marred  her  looks.  Nearly  all  the  women 
of  Australia  are  pretty,  but  they  fade  young,  and  in 
many  instances  both  the  men  and  the  women  have  a 
full  set  of  false  teeth  at  the  age  of  eighteen  or 
twenty — a  fact  attributed  to  the  lime  in  the  water. 

Before  noon  the  next  day  we  had  arrived  at  Wuhu. 
This  is  the  great  rice  port  and  there  were  many  ships 
loaded  with  this  commodity,  to  be  shipped  to  other 
parts  of  China.  It  is  not  allowed  to  be  exported,  for 
China  has  never  been  able  to  raise  enough  for  her 
own  dense  population,  and  quantities  of  it  are  shipped 
into  the  country  every  year. 

On  the  way  to  Kiukiang,  our  next  stopping  place, 
we  passed  a  rather  strange  but  pretty  sight,  two 
pyramidal  rocks  that  rose  out  of  the  river  to  the 
Height  of  about  two  hundred  feet,  called  the  "  Little 


CITIES    OF    THE    YANGTZE    RIVER      113 

Orphans."  Though  they  had  the  appearance  of  being 
very  steep,  a  pretty  little  temple,  almost  hidden  by 
the  green  foliage  of  the  trees,  was  nestling  near  the 
top,  while  on  the  summit  was  a  small  house  which  had 
been  built  as  a  summer  resort  by  a  rich  Chinaman. 

Kiukiang  is  the  place  wrhere  most  of  the  finest  egg- 
shell china  is  manufactured,  but  I  found  the  potteries 
were  so  far  from  the  landing  I  could  not  visit  them. 
The  largest  building  in  the  place  was  the  Roman 
Catholic  Mission.  It  was  painted  white  and  stood 
facing  the  landing,  its  high  clock  tower  visible  at  some 
distance  from  the  shore.  Here  the  hunters  came  to 
the  boat  with  loads  of  game  which  the  stewards 
bought  for  almost  nothing,  and  reminded  me  of  what 
the  English  lady  had  said  about  the  game  along  the 
Yangtze.  For  days  after  we  left  here  we  simply 
feasted  on  game, — silver  and  gold  pheasants,  snipes, 
deer  and  several  kinds  of  duck.  There  was  a  great 
change  in  the  scenery  after  leaving  Kiukiang.  On 
either  side  of  the  river  wrere  high  green  hills  that  were 
much  more  pleasing  to  the  eye  than  the  low,  marshy 
country  we  had  been  passing  through,  where  the  hills 
and  mountains  could  be  but  faintly  discerned  in  the 
distance. 

We  arrived  at  Hankow  about  ten  o'clock  the  next 
morning  and  my  first  impression  of  the  place  was  not 
at  all  favorable.  The  town  had  a  dirty,  forlorn  look 
and  it  took  me  some  time  to  realize  that  it  was  the 
most  important  business  place  along  the  Yangtze 


NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

river,  and  that  more  than  half  the  tea  raised  in  China 
is  bought  and  shipped  through  this  port.  The  Rus- 
sians now  monopolize  the  tea  business,  formerly  car- 
ried on  by  the  English,  the  most  interesting  feature 
of  which  is  the  two  large  factories  where  tea  dust  is 
pressed  into  bricks,  and  a  letter  of  introduction  to 
the  manager  of  one  of  these  factories  gave  me  an 
opportunity  to  see  how  these  are  made. 

The  dust  tea  is  first  thoroughly  steamed  and  then 
put  into  strong  wooden  molds  and  subjected  to 
hydraulic  pressure.  It  is  not  removed  until  thor- 
oughly cool,  when  it  is  pressed  into  two  sizes  of 
bricks,  the  largest  ten  inches  long,  six  inches  wide 
and  one  inch  thick.  This  size  is  made  from  the 
medium  qualities  of  tea,  while  the  small  size,  which 
is  five  inches  long,  two  and  one-half  wide,  and  one 
thick,  is  made  from  the  finer  qualities.  The  bricks 
are  securely  packed  into  bamboo  baskets,  of  a  size 
that  can  be  easily  carried  by  mules  and  camels,  and 
sent  overland  to  Russia.  At  first  brick  tea  was  made 
only  from  dust  and  offal,  but  it  became  such  a  paying 
business  that  now  almost  all  the  tea  is  ground  and 
put  up  in  this  form. 

Hankow's  hotel  at  this  time  was  a  small,  indiffer- 
ently kept  place.  It  was  run  by  an  Englishman  and 
his  wife  who  were  typical  London  boarding-house 
keepers  such  as  Charles  Dickens  so  graphically  de- 
scribes. It  was  the  manager  of  this  hotel  who  intro- 
duced me  to  a  Mr.  Everall,  a  young  Englishman  who 


J 

/  ,.r,-n.^^     ^v    .  ^ 


Crushing  Tea. 
The  Method  Used  in  Preparing  it  for  Market 


CITIES    OF    THE    YANGTZE    RIVER        115 

did  business  along  the  Yangtze  for  a  firm  in 
Shanghai.  The  manager  said  this  young  man  would 
give  me  much  valuable  information,  for  he  knew  not 
only  every  foot  of  the  river  but  a  great  part  of  China. 
All  this  I  found  to  be  true,  and  that  he  was  a  veritable 
encyclopaedia  of  China,  a  graduate  of  Oxford  and 
spoke  five  languages  fluently,  including  Chinese  and 
many  of  its  dialects.  When  I  apologized  for  my  in- 
trusion in  taking  up  his  valuable  time,  he  laughed 
and  said  he  was  always  pleased  to  answer  the  ques- 
tions of  strangers,  and  there  was  only  one  thing  he 
considered  unpardonable  in  either  a  friend  or  a 
stranger,  and  that  was  a  long  letter.  I  assured  him 
that  I  had  not  contemplated  writing  him  any  letters 
at  all,  but  if  I  should  ever  do  so,  and  could  not  get 
all  I  had  to  say  on  one  page,  I  would  send  my  letter 
in  installments,  as  they  do  bank  notes  in  India;  they 
cut  them  in  two  and  send  half  one  day  and  the  other 
half  a  day  or  two  later.  He  said  that  was  rather  a 
clever  idea,  and,  to  use  an  Amercan  expression,  "  I 
guess  I  could  stand  them  if  I  got  them  that  way." 

The  account  he  gave  me  of  Hankow  and  the  coun- 
try along  the  Yangtze  was  exceedngly  interesting. 
He  was  very  enthusiastic  over  Hankow  and  said  it 
would  be  only  a  short  time  before  it  would  be  one  of 
the  greatest  cities  in  China.  He  referred  to  its  fine 
situation  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river  in  the  province 
of  Hupeh,  at  a  point  where  the  Han  river  flows  into 
the  Yangtze  from  the  northwest.  It  was  from  this 


116      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

tributary,  he  said,  that  the  town  derived  its  name,  for 
literally  translated  Hankow  meant  "  The  mouth  of 
the  Han." 

Directly  across  this  small  river  there  is  an  equally 
large  city  known  as  Hunyang,  and  opposite  these 
two  cities  on  the  south,  or  right  bank  of  the  river,  is 
Wuchang,  the  provincial  capital  of  Hupeh,  where 
the  celebrated  Viceroy,  Chang-chi-tung,  rules  his 
people.  These  three  cities  form  a  tremendous  center 
and  they  are  noted  for  their  manufacturing  industries, 
which  are  the  most  important  in  China. 

At  Hanyang  there  are  large  iron-smelting  and 
steel-rail  roller-mills,  and  a  modern  arsenal  for  the 
manufacture  of  Mauser  rifles  and  Hotchkiss  quick- 
firing  cannon.  These  are  owned  by  the  government 
and  they  are  a  great  source  of  revenue  to  the  officers 
who  have  them  in  charge,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest,  for  the  Chinese  have  a  way  of  speculating  in 
things  owned  by  the  government. 

Wuchang  has  not  only  several  government  cotton 
mills,  that  furnish  cotton  cloth  for  the  natives  in 
western  China,  but  the  mint,  which  is  fitted  up  with 
the  latest  foreign  machinery  and  supplies  the  province 
with  silver  coins  and  copper  cash,  is  also  situated 
there.  Mr.  Everall  declared  that  neither  of  these 
cities  had  kept  pace  with  Hankow,  which  could  justly 
be  called  the  Chicago  of  China.  This  comparison 
made  me  smile,  for  I  failed  to  see  any  similarity  be- 
tween the  two  places.  Seeing  my  incredulity,  he  said, 


CITIES    OF    THE    YANGTZE    RIVER        117 

'  The  comparison  will  be  more  realistic  upon  com- 
pletion of  the  Grand  Trunk  Railroad  Line  from 
Pekin  to  Hankow,  which  is  to  be  extended  to  Canton 
and  will  then  open  up  the  richest  and  most  productive 
part  of  China,  greatly  increasing  thereby  the  trade 
of  Hankow.  Every  year  there  is  an  increase  in  its 
foreign  population,  and  now  Great  Britain,  Russia, 
France,  Germany  and  Japan  have  valuable  conces- 
sions here.  Our  river  frontage  is  greatly  marred  by 
floating  warehouses  called  hulks,  where  steamers  dis- 
charge their  cargoes.  These  you  saw  at  all  the  ports 
where  the  boats  stop  on  their  way  up  the  river,  but 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  time  they  will  be  done  away 
with  and  wharves  will  be  built  in  their  stead. 

"  Running  parallel  with  the  river,"  he  continued, 
"  is  the  Bund,  a  large  well-paved  street,  which  is  the 
grand  promenade  for  Hankow's  population  after 
sundown  on  a  hot  summer  evening,  for  no  public 
gardens  or  parks  have  yet  been  laid  out.  Facing  the 
Bund  is  Be-tred  Road  where  all  the  finest  foreign 
dwellings  are  situated.  The  other  noticeable  build- 
ings are  two  clubs,  a  municipal  building  and  a  large 
Roman  Catholic  convent.  A  new  hotel  will  soon  be 
built  and  it  will  be  under  French  management.  You 
will  find  the  streets  in  the  native  walled-in  town  very 
narrow  and  thronged  with  people  passing  in  streams 
attending  to  their  various  vocations.  It  is  astonishing 
to  watch  with  what  ease  a  coolie,  carrying  a  cumber- 
some load  or  a  sedan  chair,  or  pushing  a  broad  wheel- 


118      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

barrow,  can  penetrate  the  dense  mass  of  humanity. 
The  shops,  with  their  counters  facing  the  streets  and 
their  smiling  assistants  behind  them,  combined  with 
the  different  wares  displayed  for  sale,  present  a  very 
picturesque  scene,  and  one  becomes  enchanted  with 
the  business-like  air  of  its  surroundings.  But  for  the 
smells  and  the  squeaks  of  tortured  pigs  dangling  by 
their  feet  from  a  bamboo  pole  over  the  shoulders  of 
the  Celestials  on  their  way  to  market,  one  could  almost 
forget  that  he  is  in  the  heart  of  this  corrupt  and 
decaying  China." 

In  one  of  the  streets  are  a  lot  of  hand  looms  of 
the  most  primitive  kind  on  which  the  Chinese  weave 
a  fine  silk  plush  that  is  much  sought  after  by  Euro- 
pean ladies  for  cloaks  and  jackets.  I  told  Mr.  Everall 
it  was  here  that  I  came  near  losing  my  life ;  for  when 
I  got  off  my  sedan  chair  to  inspect  the  looms,  two  or 
three  hundred  Chinamen  flocked  round  me  out  of 
curiosity  and  pinched  my  cheeks,  looked  at  my  skirts 
and  wanted  me  to  take  off  my  shoes  so  they  could  try 
them  on.  They  took  the  gloves  off  my  hands,  and 
when  I  succeeded  in  getting  back  to  my  chair  they 
were  still  trying  them  on.  I  was  glad  to  let  them  keep 
them  for  it  kept  their  curiosity  in  check  until  I  got 
away.  I  was  not  as  enthusiastic  about  Hankow's 
Chinatown  as  the  young  Englishman  was  for,  after 
spending  half  a  day  in  its  crowded  streets  and  being 
jostled  about,  I  was  delighted  to  get  out  of  it. 

Although  the  steamer  did  not  leave  until  after  ten 


CITIES    OF    THE    YANGTZE    RIVER        119 

P.  M.  I  went  on  board  as  soon  after  dinner  as  possi- 
ble, for  the  Chicago  of  China  at  this  time,  with  all 
its  great  advancement,  had  not  its  streets  lighted.  I 
wanted  to  make  the  journey  while  there  was  some 
daylight  left,  but  even  at  this  early  hour  it  was  a  very 
hard  matter  to  see  where  I  was  going,  for  almost  as 
soon  as  the  sun  set  there  was  such  a  fog  it  was  pitch 
dark. 

At  breakfast  the  next  morning  there  was  the  same 
number  of  ship's  officers, — Captain  Downie,  Chief 
Engineer  Mitchell,  the  first  officer,  Mr.  Sparks,  his 
wife  and  the  two  pilots,  and  there  was  one  other  first- 
class  passenger  besides  myself,  and  that  was  the 
young  Englishman,  Mr.  Everall,  who  had  been 
hastily  summoned  by  the  firm  he  represented  to  re- 
turn to  Shanghai. 

After  the  usual  morning  greetings  we  all  began 
to  admire  the  dining  saloon  which  had  been  tastefully 
decorated  with  evergreens,  banners  and  mottoes  dur- 
ing the  time  we  had  been  on  shore,  for  the  Christmas 
festivities  were  about  to  take  place.  On  the  sideboard 
stood  the  Christmas  cake.  It  was  made  by  the  head 
steward  under  the  captain's  direction,  and  they  were 
both  very  proud  of  it  and  the  way  it  was  iced.  After 
we  had  finished  breakfast  we  all  went  up  "  top-side," 
as  the  Chinamen  say,  to  enjoy  the  view,  for  this  was 
the  prettiest  part  of  the  river  and  the  sun  had  come 
out  for  a  few  hours  and  made  everything  bright  and 
cheerful  including  ourselves. 


120      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

At  five  in  the  afternoon  we  reached  Kiukiang, 
which,  the  young  Englishman  said,  literally  trans- 
lated meant  "nine  rivers."  He  also  informed  us  it 
was  a  place  of  considerable  note,  with  two  large  Rus- 
sian tea  factories,  and  that  it  was  extensively  visited 
during  the  summer  months,  for  the  Europeans  had 
built  many  hotels  and  houses  on  Mt.  Ruling,  which 
is  4000  feet  in  height  and  situated  ten  miles  from  the 
town.  It  is  the  summer  resort  of  the  people  living  in 
Shanghai,  who  much  prefer  journeying  up  the  river 
to  crossing  the  Yellow  Sea  to  escape  the  terrible 
heat  for  which  that  locality  is  noted. 

Just  as  the  whistle  blew  for  all  to  be  on  board,  we 
saw  a  well-dressed  gentleman,  with  satchel  in  hand, 
making  a  frantic  effort  to  get  on  board  before  the 
boat  loosened  itself  from  the  hulk.  It  proved  to  be 
a  Dr.  Glendenning,  who  had  been  in  Kiukiang  to 
make  arrangements  for  moving  his  family  there, 
where  he  intended  to  follow  his  profession.  He  came 
from  good  old  Irish  stock,  though  born  in  Australia, 
and  though  he  proved  to  be  remarkably  clever  and 
splendid  company,  he  was  alwajrs  referred  to  by  the 
boat's  officer  and  the  young  Englishman  as  "a  Colo- 
nial," a  term  not  enjoyed  by  all  the  Great  Britain's 
colonists. 

I  once  met  a  Canadian  whose  ancestors  had  been 
natives  of  that  country  for  several  generations,  and 
who  had  been  brought  up  with  all  the  broad-minded 
ideas  of  a  true  American.  He  said  the  people  in 


CITIES    OF    THE    YANGTZE    RIVER 

Canada  have  the  same  doleful  way  of  calling  Eng- 
land home  that  they  have  in  China,  but  in  many  in- 
stances it  is  simply  force  of  habit,  for  they  care 
nothing  whatever  for  the  mother  country.  He  said 
he  had  never  fully  realized  how  inferior  the  Britishers 
considered  the  "  Colonials  "  until  he  came  to  China. 
Falling  ill  of  typhoid  fever,  he  went  to  a  hospital  in 
Shanghai,  and  when  he  wTas  able  to  sit  up  the  matron 
came  to  see  him.  One  of  her  first  questions  wras, 
'Where  are  you  from?"  and  when  he  told  her  she 
curled  her  lip  disdainfully  and  said,  "  Oh,  you  are  a 
Colonial."  He  said  it  so  angered  him  that  for  several 
days  he  was  muclrworse  and  felt  like  telling  her  that 
he  considered  himself  superior  to  any  Englishman 
ever  born. 

The  next  thing  that  attracted  our  attention  as  we 
went  down  the  river  was  Kiukiang's  Pagoda,  for  it  is 
one  of  the  finest  along  the  Yangtze  River.  These 
pagodas  are  usually  built  with  an  odd  number  of 
stories,  for  the  Chinese  believe  there  is  luck  in  odd 
numbers.  Pagoda  building  was  introduced  into 
China  from  India,  and  they  were  built  first,  as  the 
dagobas  were  in  that  country,  to  cover  some  of  the 
sacred  ashes  of  Buddha,  but  afterwards  they  were 
used  as  receptacles  for  the  ashes  of  saints  and  priests. 
In  about  two  hours  we  were  in  sight  of  the  "  Little 
Orphans,"  for  no  matter  how  often  one  goes  up  and 
down  the  river  one  always  watches  for  the  sight  of 
these  two  pyramidal  rocks,  they  appear  so  majestic 


122      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

standing  in  the  middle  of  the  river.  As  the  "  Little 
Orphans  "  faded  out  of  sight  it  began  to  grow  dark, 
and  the  usual  stop  was  made  for  the  night.  At  dinner 
that  evening  we  had  rather  an  exciting  time,  for  the 
doctor,  who  had  been  in  China  only  a  short  time,  in- 
sisted that  the  British  part  of  Shanghai  was  under  the 
control  of  the  British  government,  and  that  it  was  a 
colony  and  not  a  settlement.  The  chief  engineer, 
who  had  been  in  China  for  over  thirty  years,  contra- 
dicted this  statement  and  told  him  that  it  was  known 
as  the  "  Model  Settlement,"  and  that  it  was  independ- 
ent of  the  British  government.  The  argument  at  one 
time  became  very  warm,  but  in  the  end  it  was  regarded 
as  a  great  joke  and  the  doctor  enjoyed  it  as  much  as 
the  rest  of  us.  No  doubt  what  made  him  so  positive 
was  the  way  the  British  government  has  of  treating 
the  "  Model  Settlement " ;  for  only  a  few  years  ago  it 
sent  a  number  of  fine  field  guns  for  their  protection 
and  every  year  it  sends  them  an  allowance  of  ammuni- 
tion. 

The  next  day  was  Christmas  and  it  was  the  j  oiliest, 
funniest  Christmas  I  ever  spent.  Although  the 
weather  was  cold  and  we  almost  froze  in  our  cabins, 
the  dining  saloon  was  warm  and  we  spent  most  of  the 
day  there  feasting  and  telling  stories. 

We  did  not  have  turkey  for  dinner,  but  we  had 
golden  pheasant,  and  never  do  I  remember  tasting 
such  a  delicious  fowl,  though  it  was  only  one  of 
the  many  good  things  we  had.  We  sat  long  at  the 


A  Chinese  Pagoda  on  the  Yangtze  River 


CITIES    OF    THE    YANGTZE    RIVER 

table  and  there  were  many  toasts  and  stories.  The 
doctor  of  course  was  always  in  the  lead  for  there  was 
simply  no  end  to  his  Irish  wit.  The  chief  engineer 
told  some  funny  old  Scotch  stories  too  that  made  us 
laugh  heartily,  and  so  the  day  passed. 

In  the  evening  the  captain  gave  us  a  splendid  little 
supper ;  but  when  the  fun  was  at  its  height  he  said,  in 
a  very  solemn  voice,  "  Let  us  change  the  program  and 
each  one  in  turn  tell  what  he  considered  the  greatest 
mistake  of  his  life."  Suiting  the  action  to  the  word, 
he  said  that  he  considered  his  to  be  the  fact  that  he 
had  married,  late  in  life,  a  young  and  beautiful 
woman,  and  had  a  number  of  sweet  children  whom  he 
never  would  live  to  rear  and  educate,  and  who  must 
necessarily  be  a  great  burden  to  his  charming  wife. 
The  captain's  story  put  an  end  to  all  the  fun,  and  the 
chief  engineer  followed  it  with  the  tale  of  his  family 
experiences.  He  said  he  had  to  find  some  object  to 
love  after  the  death  of  his  wife  some  years  before,  and 
that  ever  since  then  he  had  kept  in  his  cabin  a  little  cat 
which  he  loved  to  care  for  as  though  it  were  the  most 
precious  thing  on  earth  and  which  he  had  never  even 
so  much  as  allowed  his  servant  to  touch. 

It  was  growing  late  and  we  bade  each  other  good- 
night; but  before  leaving  someone  jokingly  said  to  the 
chief  engineer,  "  Chief,  don't  blow  us  up  in  the  morn- 
ing when  you  start  the  boat."  He  laughed,  and  pre- 
tended to  be  a  bit  indignant ;  but  sure  enough,  through 
some  unavoidable  accident,  we  were  nearly  blown  up 


NEWEST   WAY   ROUND    THE   WORLD 

the  next  morning,  and  this  necessitated  our  anchoring, 
to  blow  off  steam,  cool  the  boilers  and  effect  repairs, 
which  kept  the  engineer  busy  for  over  twenty-four 
hours.  The  doctor  did  a  good  deal  of  fidgeting  about 
the  delay  and  a  good  deal  of  talking  about  stopping 
some  of  the  steamers  and  continuing  his  journey  in 
one  of  them,  but  we  coaxed  him  not  to  do  so  for  we 
were  loath  to  part  with  his  good  company. 

Our  first  stop  after  we  again  got  under  way  was 
Wuhu,  a  dismal  place  at  any  time,  but  now  doubly  so 
for  it  was  raining  hard.  The  young  Englishman 
said  that  most  people  were  greatly  pleased  with  the 
name  "  Wuhu,"  but  that  he  never  stopped  there  with- 
out experiencing  a  desire  to  cry  and  rename  it  "  Boo- 
hoo." 

When  we  arrived  at  Nankin  it  was  late  and  still 
raining,  so  we  only  waited  long  enough  to  get  the 
mail.  There  were  the  same  experiences  at  nearly  all 
the  other  stopping  places,  and  after  a  rather  long 
journey  we  arrived  at  seven  o'clock  one  evening  at 
Shanghai,  where  we  all  left  the  boat  and  took  rikshas. 
We  were  together  until  about  half  way  down  the 
Bund,  when  each  took  a  different  direction,  and  that 
was  the  last  time  we  were  ever  together  again. 

It  is  now  five  years  since  I  took  this  eventful  trip, 
and  during  this  time  I  have  visited  China  three  times, 
inquiring  on  each  occasion  for  those  who  accompanied 
me.  On  one  of  my  visits  I  met  four  of  the  party  but 
the  last  time,  when  I  made  my  usual  inquiries,  I  was 


125 

pained  to  learn  that  the  captain  had  died,  according  to 
his  predictions,  and  that  the  chief  engineer  had  also 
joined  his  beloved  wife  in  the  beyond.  The  chief 
officer  and  his  wife  lived  in  Shanghai  and  he  had  been 
appointed  to  fill  the  captain's  place  on  the  steamship 
Pekin.  The  doctor  was  still  living  in  Kiukiang,  where 
he  had  built  up  a  large  practice,  the  young  English- 
man was  doing  business  for  an  American  firm  in 
Hankow,  and  still  enjoying  single  blessedness,  though 
the  belles  of  Shanghai  and  Yangtze  had  vied  with 
each  other  for  some  years  in  the  effort  to  determine 
which  of  them  would  be  lucky  enough  to  catch  him. 
My  informant  told  me  that  Hankow  had  greatly  in- 
creased its  foreign  population,  and  that  I  would  never 
know  the  place,  there  were  so  many  new  buildings  and 
improvements.  The  railroad  was  running  between 
Hankow  and  Pekin,  but  had  not  been  completed  to 
Canton. 


CHAPTER   ELEVEN 

ON    THE    CHINA    SEA 

TDROBABLY  there  is  nothing  in  China  that  excites 
•••  the  curiosity  of  strangers  more  than  the  foot- 
binding  practiced  among  the  women,  and  at  no  place 
do  you  see  more  of  it  than  in  Shanghai.  When  the 
practice  began  is  not  known,  for  it  is  probably  as  old 
as  the  Chinese  empire ;  and,  though  many  writers  have 
tried  to  account  for  its  origin,  nothing  is  definitely 
known  of  it.  One  writer  asserts  that  it  was  introduced 
for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  women  at  home  and 
stopping  their  gossip  among  their  neighbors.  It  is 
now  considered  a  mark  of  great  beauty,  that  is  much 
admired  by  the  Chinese  men.  A  rich  Chinese  mer- 
chant brought  his  wives  to  me  that  I  might  see  their 
tiny  feet.  "Most  too  smalle,"  he  said,  "velly 
pretty! "  I  was  told  that  if  the  parents,  in  many  in- 
stances, omitted  to  bind  the  baby  girls'  feet,  they 
would  do  it  themselves  when  they  were  old,  and  the 
suffering  would  be  much  greater. 

The  foot  is  most  unsightly  when  uncovered;  the 
pointed,  embroidered  shoe,  silk  stocking  and  the  long 
piece  of  cloth  used  to  bind  it  and  prevent  its  growing, 
cover  indeed  a  multitude  of  sinning  against  nature. 
The  small  toes  are  turned  under  and  next  the  sole  of 

126 


Bound  Feet  Uncovered 


ON    THE    CHINA    SEA  127 

the  foot,  leaving  only  the  great  toe  and  the  heel,  which, 
becoming  greatly  enlarged,  loses  its  natural  appear- 
ance and  resembles  the  heel  of  a  shoe.  The  instep 
rises  into  a  hideous  lump,  and  the  weight  of  the  body 
is  borne  on  the  big  toe  and  the  heel,  which  renders? 
mamr  of  the  women  incapable  of  walking,  and  they 
have  to  be  carried  by  servants. 

When  one  goes  to  China  one  must  learn  pigeon 
English,  for  this  is  the  only  means  of  being  under- 
stood by  the  coolies.  There  is  only  one  written 
Chinese  language,  but  every  province  has  its  own 
dialect;  and,  though  these  different  localities  may  be 
but  a  short  distance  apart,  one  set  of  Chinamen  can- 
not understand  the  other,  so  foreigners  have  adopted 
pigeon  English  as  a  means  of  communication  with 
them  all.  I  learned  only  a  few  words  but  there  is  an 
extensive  vocabulary  at  the  disposal  of  those  who  wish 
to  accomplish  the  linguistic  feat  of  mastering  it. 
There  are  a  few  typical  expressions :  When  you  wish 
a  Chinaman  to  hurry  up  you  say  "  Chop-chop." 
When  you  call  upon  a  friend,  you  ask  "  Master  have 
got  ?  "  If  he  is  in,  the  boy  answers  "  Yes ;  "  but  if  he 
is  out  he  says  "  Have  no  got."  If  you  wish  a  China- 
man to  go  upstairs  you  say  "  Go  up  top-side."  They 
say  "  Can  do,"  "  No  can  do,"  and  "  No  sabee,"  when 
they  do  not  understand.  "  Chit "  is  another  word 
used  all  through  the  East,  and  means  a  bill,  a  card  or 
a  note.  A  female  servant  is  called  "  Oma." 

I  was  how  traveling  on  the  Hongkong  Maru.     It 


128        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

made  very  good  time,  and  on  the  third  morning  after 
leaving  Shanghai  dropped  anchor  in  the  beautiful 
blue  waters  of  the  harbor  at  Hongkong,  the  great 
naval  fortress  of  the  English  in  the  East.  It  is  a 
free  port  and  one  feels  a  sense  of  relief  on  landing, 
to  discover  the  absence  of  the  usual  lot  of  impudent 
customs  house  officers  who  tear  one's  baggage  to 
pieces  and  blandly  say  they  are  "  sorry  to  make  so 
much  trouble,  but  they  are  only  carrying  out  the  re- 
quirements of  the  law." 

From  the  steamer's  deck  you  have  a  fine  view  of  the 
city.  The  portion  that  lies  along  the  harbor  is  called 
Victoria,  though  few  strangers  know  it  by  this  name, 
for  it  is  usually  called  Hongkong,  the  name  of  the 
island.  The  city  has  a  population  of  260,000,  of 
whom  12,000  are  foreigners  of  different  nationalities. 
It  is  a  very  cosmopolitan  place,  the  streets  crowded 
with  people  from  very  part  of  the  globe. 

Hotel  accommodations  are  difficult  to  get,  although 
there  are  a  number  of  large  hotels,  and  new  ones  are 
constantly  being  built.  The  hotel  proprietors  are 
very  independent  and  if  you  go  to  the  office  to  make  a 
complaint  you  are  told  they  will  send  the  coolies  up 
for  your  baggage  and  you  had  better  look  elsewhere 
for  accommodations.  I  always  stop  at  the  Hong- 
kong Hotel,  for  this  is  considered  the  best.  In  the 
dining  room  there  are  about  fifty  Chinese  waiters  all 
wearing  long  white  linen  tunics.  The  different  dishes 
on  the  menu  are  numbered  both  in  Chinese  and  Eng- 


ON    THE    CHINA    SEA  129 

lish  numerals,  and  you  point  to  the  number  to  desig- 
nate what  you  wish,  for  the  Chinese  cannot  read 
English.  Each  dish  is  brought  in  separately,  and  a 
novel  sight  it  is  to  see  these  white-robed  Celestials 
prancing  round  the  room,  getting  in  each  other's  way 
and  often  running  into  the  guests.  The  head  waiters 
are  Chinamen  dressed  in  stiff  brocaded  silk,  and  they 
walk  around  as  though  half  asleep.  They  are  rich, 
for  all  the  "  cumshaw  "  (tips  given  the  waiters)  are 
turned  over  to  them  to  keep  as  their  part  of  the 
"  squeeze  "  for  getting  the  waiter  his  position. 

Hotel  prices  have  advanced  threefold  during  the 
last  five  years,  since  the  Americans  have  been  going 
to  the  Philippines.  There  has  been  a  great  change 
in  this  respect  both  in  China  and  Japan.  Chairs, 
rikshas  and  an  electric  tram  car  line  that  runs  through 
both  the  foreign  and  native  town  are  the  means  of 
transportation.  The  shipping  of  Hongkong  is  ex- 
tensive, and  boats  are  constantly  arriving  and  de- 
parting to  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  harbor  is  al- 
ways full  of  Chinese  junks  and  sampans,  with  thou- 
sands of  Chinese  living  on  them. 

Rising  majestically  behind  the  city  of  Victoria  is 
the  Peak,  the  highest  hill  on  the  island.  At  its  high- 
est point,  about  1,800  feet,  is  the  signal  station  where 
the  arrival  of  ocean  steamers  is  announced  by  hoisting 
a  flag  and  firing  a  cannon.  It  is  the  summer  resort 
of  the  Hongkong  people,  and  when  it  is  unbearably 
hot  in  the  city  below  you  can  sleep  under  blankets  on 


130        NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE   WORLD 

the  Peak.  Two  large  hotels  and  hundreds  of  houses 
are  situated  on  it,  and  the  view  is  marvelous,  especially 
at  night,  when  the  harbor  and  the  city,  with  its 
thousands  of  lights,  give  the  impression  of  myraids  of 
twinkling  stars  fallen  from  the  skies.  By  daylight 
the  view  over  the  harbor  and  the  islands  is  equally  as 
fine.  There  are  two  ways  of  reaching  the  summit, 
one  by  a  steam  tram  that  runs  up  and  down  every 
fifteen  minutes,  the  other  by  sedan  chairs.  The  Gov- 
ernor General  resides  in  a  fine  palace  on  a  broad 
terrace  half  way  up  the  Peak. 

The  society  of  Hongkong  is  divided  into  sets,  and 
there  is  constant  strife  among  them  for  the  honor  of 
being  entitled  to  an  invitation  to  the  Governor's  house. 
At  the  hotels'  and  the  most  informal  gatherings  every 
one  appears  in  full  dress,  and  this  colony  is  considered 
one  of  the  most  straight  laced  and  snobbish  of  all  that 
belong  to  Great  Britain.  Women  who  work  in  for- 
eign stores  are  brought  out  from  England,  under  con- 
tract to  remain  for  a  term  of  years  with  their  em- 
ployers, and  as  there  are  many  single  men  among  the 
foreign  population,  both  in  Hongkong  and  China, 
matrimony  is  a  plant  that  flourishes  in  the  Far  East. 

Many  Englishmen  set  up  housekeeping  with  a 
Chinese  or  Japanese  woman,  who  combines  the  office 
of  wife,  housekeeper  and  servant  in  one.  In  some  in- 
stances they  marry  these  women,  but  more  often  they 
abandon  them  after  a  number  of  children  have  been 
born,  and  in  consequence  many  half  castes  are  to  be 


ON    THE    CHINA    SEA  131 

seen  here.  With  all  the  disadvantages  whicK  Hong- 
kong may  suffer  from  climate  and  other  causes,  it  is 
a  pretty  place  and  it  has  been  truthfully  said,  "  There 
is  but  one  Hongkong  and  one  Peak." 

As  the  Pitseanuloka  would  sail  for  Bangkok  at 
daylight,  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  go  on  board  the 
night  before.  Arriving  at  the  steamer  I  was  met  by 
the  captain,  who  informed  me  that  I  would  be  his  only 
passenger,  and  that  he  had  instructed  his  Chinese 
steward  to  look  after  my  various  wants  and  see  that  I 
was  made  comfortable.  At  the  same  time  he  excused 
himself  as  he,  with  the  first  and  second  mate,  were  to 
dine  with  friends  on  shore,  and  hence  I  found  myself 
quite  alone.  There  was  not  a  sound  but  the  heavy 
tread  of  the  watchman  at  one  end  of  the  boat,  and  at 
the  other  the  rattling  of  dominoes,  with  which  the 
Chinese  stewards  were  gambling,  apparently  improv- 
ing the  opportunity  afforded  by  the  absence  of  the 
captain.  I  went  to  the  upper  deck  and  found  it 
scrubbed  white  as  snow.  In  the  center  was  a  table 
with  an  electric  drop  light,  and  there  were  a  number 
of  long  reclining  bamboo  chairs  for  the  use  of  the  pas- 
sengers. On  more  pretentious  steamers  I  have  found 
greatly  inferior  accommodations.  I  had  supposed 
there  was  not  a  living  thing  on  deck,  but  as  I  was 
making  my  last  round  I  heard  the  mew  of  a  cat  and 
the  bark  of  a  dog.  Looking  around  to  see  whence 
the  noise  came,  I  saw  under  a  chair  two  cats,  and 
on  the  stairs  a  dog,  which  followed  me  to  the  brightly 


132      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

lighted  cabin  below  where  I  discovered  that  the  cats 
were  about  half  grown  and  very  thin.  Canned  milk 
did  not  agree  with  them,  the  cabin  boy  said.  One  cat 
was  a  common  black  and  white  one  while  the  other 
was  a  pure  Siamese,  with  a  coat  of  remarkable  color- 
ing, shaded  from  the  most  delicate  cream  to  a  seal 
brown,  its  feet  and  the  end  of  its  tail  coal  black.  It 
had  light  blue  eyes  with  that  soft  dreamy  expression 
so  often  seen  in  Orientals.  A  beautiful  animal  is 
more  admired  than  the  plainer  ones,  and  the  Siamese 
cat  which  was  no  exception  to  the  rule,  received  more 
dainty  bits  than  the  common  one,  but  the  latter  had 
the  keenest  eyes  ever  set  in  a  cat's  head,  and  she  at- 
tended strictly  to  business.  She  was  the  first  of  the 
three  on  the  ship  and  she  gave  all  the  newcomers  to 
understand  that  she  was  monarch  of  all  she  surveyed. 
The  dog  was  of  some  common  breed,  white  and  very 
small,  and  he  was  the  last  addition  to  the  ship's  family. 
The  common  cat  was  very  angry  when  the  dog  ar- 
rived and  kept  him  in  hiding  for  many  days.  Every 
time  he  made  his  appearance  she  would  walk  down  the 
deck  on  her  hind  feet  soundly  thrashing  the  poor  little 
creature.  The  Siamese  cat  was  inclined  to  be  friendly 
to  the  dog  but  the  common  cat  gave  her  a  good 
whipping  and  taught  her  to  whip  the  dog  also,  who 
would  stand  on  his  hind  legs  and  beg  in  the  most  piti- 
ful way  to  be  protected  from  them.  Their  method 
was  to  stand  at  either  door,  just  under  the  sill,  so  the 
dog  could  not  see  them,  and  when  he  jumped  into  the 


ON    THE    CHINA    SEA  133 

saloon  they  would  assail  him  from  both  sides  of  the 
room.  It  made  no  difference  where  the  poor  little 
fellow  went  his  feline  enemies  were  watching,  ready 
to  pounce  upon  him  and  claw  him.  I  took  the  part 
of  the  oppressed  little  canine  and  the  common  cat  was 
disposed  to  fight  me  for  my  chivalry  and  teach  me  not 
to  meddle  with  what  she  considered  her  business.  For 
days  I  watched  these  creatures  with  the  greatest  in- 
terest. I  had  never  before  thought  animals  possessed 
thinking  powers,  but  I  am  convinced  that  that  com- 
mon cat  could  reason  out  things  with  a  precision  that 
would  puzzle  her  superiors.  She  seemed  to  realize 
that  the  Siamese  cat,  like  the  Siamese  people,  was 
weak  and  easily  influenced,  and  that  she  had  to  act 
for  her. 


SIAM   AND    SINGAPORE 


CHAPTER  TWELVE 

BANGKOK,  A  MODERNIZED  CITY 

ships  plying  between  Bangkok  and  Hong- 
kong  are  employed  the  year  around  in  carrying 
the  rice  crop  of  Siam  to  Hongkong,  whence  it  is  re- 
shipped  to  Canton,  where  the  greater  part  of  it  is  con- 
sumed. There  is  little  merchandise  to  take  back  to 
Siam  and  the  ships  have  nothing  but  their  ballast  to 
hold  them  down,  which  is  quite  insufficient,  for  most 
of  the  way  is  across  currents  and  it  would  be  hard  to 
find  rougher  seas. 

It  was  not  until  the  Gulf  of  Siam  wras  reached  that 
we  found  smooth  sailing.  The  weather  was  growing 
warm  day  by  day  until  it  became  very  oppressive. 
The  distance  between  Hongkong  and  Bangkok  is 
1455  miles,  and  it  takes  nearly  five  days  to  make  the 
trip.  The  first  glimpses  of  Siamese  territory  are  the 
many  green  islands  situated  in  the  Gulf  of  Siam, 
some  of  which  are  very  pretty  and  serve  as  resorts  of 
the  Bangkok  people. 

As  the  boat  enters  the  mouth  of  the  Menam  river 
one  sees  two  forts  well  equipped  with  modern  devices 
of  war  for  the  defense  of  the  river,  the  banks  of  which 
are  low  and  swampy  and  covered  with  coarse  grass. 
You  soon  notice  the  ship  is  rising  in  the  water,  and 
the  captain  tells  you  he  is  lightening  the  ballast,  hop- 

137 


138        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

ing  to  cross  the  bar  just  below  Bangkok  where  many 
vessels  are  stranded  for  days,  the  mud  piling  up 
around  them  until  one  could  get  out  and  walk  about 
the  ship.  Fortunately  the  high  tide  usually  floats 
them  off.  The  channel  is  constantly  changing  and  it 
is  almost  impossible  to  navigate  it  without  a  pilot  who 
understands  the  current. 

Not  very  far  up  the  river  a  huge  Buddhist  temple 
comes  in  sight,  built  on  an  island  in  the  middle  of  the 
stream,  which  is  so  level  it  appears  to  float  upon  the 
water.  As  seen  from  the  deck  of  the  steamers  this 
temple  is  very  picturesque,  with  its  white  spires  and 
many-colored  tiles  shimmering  in  the  sun.  A  little 
farther  along  you  perceive  boats  with  houses  built 
upon  them,  moored  to  the  banks  on  either  side.  Many 
of  these  floating  houses  are  shops  filled  with  different 
kinds  of  merchandise  with  people  in  small  boats  shop- 
ping among  them.  At  night  the  river  presents  a 
splendid  sight  for  these  boats  are  brilliantly  lighted 
and  there  are  hundreds  of  shoppers  and  pleasure  seek- 
ers on  the  river. 

Never  was  I  so  astonished  as  when  I  arrived  at 
Bangkok  and  found  that  I  had  been  laboring  under 
several  misapprehensions.  I  had  heard  much  about 
the  filth  of  the  place  and  that  it  was  so  hot  eggs  would 
cook  in  the  shade.  What  was  more,  I  was  told  after 
I  arrived  that  eggs  would  hatch  if  you  laid  them  in 
the  sun;  but  this  I  cannot  vouch  for,  as  I  did  not  see 
them  hatching,  nor  can  I  vouch  for  the  reputed  size 


Boat  Life  on  the  River,  Bangkok,  Siam 

Wat  Chang,  or  Golden  Mountain  in  the  Distance 


Siamese  Actors 


139 

of  the  mosquitoes.  It  is  true  that  Bangkok  is  hot,  and 
that  there  are  plenty  of  mosquitoes,  but  there  are  just 
as  many  in  other  parts  of  the  world  and  there  are  hun- 
dreds of  oriental  cities  much  dirtier.  It  has  been  so 
modernized  in  the  last  few  years  that  it  has  not  the 
appearance  of  an  oriental  town,  but  resembles  a  well- 
built  foreign  city.  The  streets  have  been  widened 
and  greatly  improved,  and  there  is  an  electric  tram 
car  running  through  the  main  street  that  is  mostly 
patronized  by  the  native  people.  There  are  a  number 
of  wide  avenues  and  boulevards  and  some  twenty  miles 
of  good  driveways  in  and  around  Bangkok.  The  last 
addition  is  Dusit  Park,  of  which  the  King  is  very 
proud,  and  in  which  he  is  building  a  palace  for  him- 
self and  the  Crown  Prince.  This  park  is  laid  out 
with  wide  boulevards,  and  when  the  trees  grow  larger 
it  will  be  a  charming  place. 

I  have  never  visited  an  oriental  city  where  I  was  so 
well  entertained,  nor  one  where  I  enjoyed  myself  so 
well  as  I  did  at  Bangkok.  I  had  not  been  an  hour  at 
the  Oriental  Hotel  when  an  evening  paper  containing 
a  notice  of  my  arrival  was  handed  me,  and  soon  after 
the  American  Minister,  Mr.  King,  called  with  his 
family,  and  most  charming  people  I  found  them. 
They  arranged  my  sightseeing  in  Siam,  a  kindness 
which  I  highly  appreciated,  for  it  made  my  stay  ex- 
tremely pleasant  as  well  as  interesting,  and,  besides, 
they  gave  me  so  much  information  that  it  would  have 
been  difficult  for  me  to  have  obtained  otherwise. 


140      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  give  a  description  of  the 
many  wats,  or  Buddhist  temples,  for  there  are  hun- 
dreds of  them  in  Bangkok,  and  I  visited  only  the 
largest  and  those  most  noted.  Some  of  them  cover 
acres  of  ground,  surrounded  by  monasteries  where  the 
monks  and  priests  live,  who  may  be  seen  at  a  very 
early  hour  dressed  in  yellow  robes  and  going  from 
house  to  house  collecting  their  supplies  of  food  for 
the  day. 

Some  of  the  old  wats  have  their  inside  walls  and 
doors  finely  inlaid  with  mother  of  pearl,  but  this  kind 
of  work  is  no  longer  done  here  and  it  is  impossible  to 
find  a  modern  piece  of  inlaid  work  in  Siam ;  it  has  be- 
come a  lost  art.  It  cannot  be  said  that  the  workman- 
ship of  many  of  the  wats  is  finely  done,  but  the  form 
of  their  spires  and  domes  and  their  strange  coloring 
make  them  very  effective,  and  when  seen  from  a  dis- 
tance they  are  wonderfully  beautiful. 

There  is  only  one  spot  in  Bangkok  high  enough  to 
command  a  view  of  the  city,  and  this  is  an  artificial 
mountain  called  "  Golden  Mountain,"  with  wat 
Chang  built  on  its  summit.  It  is  two  hundred  feet 
in  height  and  situated  some  distance  from  the  busi- 
ness part  of  the  city.  Most  of  the  wats  are  along  the 
river  and  canals  in  the  prettiest  part  of  the  town,  and 
this  enables  their  devotees  to  reach  them  by  boat  for 
they  were  built  before  the  electric  cars,  carriages  and 
rikshas,  when  the  only  means  of  transportation  was  by 
water.  There  are  many  canals  running  through 


A  "Wat,"  or  Temple 


BANGKOK,    A    MODERNIZED    CITY          141 

Bangkok,  and  some  of  them  are  pretty  with  thousands 
of  people  living  on  them  in  boats. 

I  was  fortunate  in  arriving  in  Bangkok  in  time  for 
the  King's  procession  to  the  wats,  which  occurs  once  a 
year  when  the  King  delivers  the  robes  to  the  high 
priests.  It  is  called  the  procession  of  Thot  Krathin, 
and  certainly  it  was  one  of  the  finest  oriental  proces- 
sions I  have  ever  witnessed.  Never  had  I  seen  any- 
thing to  compare  with  the  three  royal  barges.  They 
were  over  one  hundred  feet  in  length  and  almost  cov- 
ered with  gold  trimmed  with  red.  These  barges  were 
rowed  by  eighty  men  dressed  in  red  with  eighty  golden 
paddles  that  were  lifted  and  dropped  in  perfect 
rhythm,  a  man  sitting  in  the  prow  of  the  boat  beating 
time.  The  King  sat  in  the  first  barge  smiling  to  the  as- 
sembled throng ;  in  the  second  were  the  young  princes, 
while  in  the  third  were  the  robes  of  the  priests.  There 
was  something  like  a  dozen  other  barges  built  like  that 
of  the  King's,  but  none  were  so  splendidly  orna- 
mented. These  are  rowed  by  men  in  white,  who 
lifted  their  paddles  to  the  same  rhythmic  beat,  and 
they  would  have  been  a  splendid  spectacle  in  them- 
selves had  not  the  King's  gorgeous  trappings  over- 
shadowed them.  I  am  sure  nothing  could  equal  this 
spectacle  for  oriental  magnificence. 

The  King  wras  a  good-looking  man  with  a  pleasing 
manner.  -He  has  some  Chinese  blood  of  which  he  is 
not  at  all  proud,  for  he  would  rather  be  thought  a 
pure  Siamese.  It  would  be  impossible  to  tell  how 


NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

many  children  King  Cholalongkorn  has,  for  he  was 
the  father  of  two  before  he  was  fifteen  years  old  and 
he  is  now  forty-nine.  He  has  a  number  of  children 
older  than  the  Crown  Prince,  who  is  now  twenty-six 
years  of  age,  and  the  mothers  of  these  older  offsprings 
are  concubines.  The  Crown  Prince  is  the  son  of  the 
first  queen,  who  no  longer  lives  with  the  King,  because 
her  half  sister  is  now  the  reigning  queen.  Both  are 
half  sisters  of  the  king ;  for,  as  he  is  the  only  Buddhist 
ruler  in  the  world,  there  are  no  other  princesses  for 
him  to  marry.  He  speaks  English  very  well  and  so 
does  the  Crown  Prince  who  had  a  foreign  tutor  for 
years  and  is  considered  a  very  clever  young  man. 
His  palace  is  surrounded  by  a  high  wall,  well  guarded 
by  day  and  by  night,  and  most  of  the  government 
offices  are  within  its  enclosure.  The  only  part  of  the 
palace  seen  by  visitors  is  the  audience  hall  and  the  gov- 
ernment apartments.  The  King  resides  within  these 
buildings  among  the  ladies  of  the  harem,  quite  out  of 
sight.  The  palace  is  foreign  built  and  furnished  in 
very  costly  style  with  foreign  furniture,  but  there  is  a 
great  lack  of  taste  in  its  arrangement. 

In  the  palace  enclosure  are  a  number  of  wats  where 
His  Majesty  worships.  The  latest  addition  was  the 
Golden  Pagoda  built  by  foreigners  and  so  poorly  con- 
structed that  much  of  it  has  fallen  down.  The 
stables  of  the  sacred  elephants  are  shown  to  the  visitor, 
composed  of  a  half  dozen  half -starved,  albino  ele- 
phants in  as  many  filthy  stalls,  attended  by  dirty 


^    -N* 


>.  , 


BANGKOK,    A    MODERNIZED    CITY 

natives  who  beg  a  penny  as  they  throw  the  elephants 
a  wisp  of  hay  or  a  bunch  of  bananas.  I  was  told  that 
several  times  a  year  these  huge  animals  were  dressed 
in  gorgeous  trappings  with  diamonds  hanging  from 
their  ears  and  marched  through  the  King's  palace.  I 
only  hope  that  on  these  sacred  occasions  they  got  a 
bath  and  enough  to  eat.  Most  visitors  try  to  obtain 
a  few  hairs  from  the  tails  of  these  impotent  beasts  to 
make  a  good  luck  charm.  I  considered  myself  par- 
particularly  fortunate  in  securing  a  ring  from  the  hair 
of  the  whitest  and  therefore  the  most  sacred. 

The  Siamese  men  and  women  are  very  inferior  in 
appearance  and  the  common  classes  are  very  filthy  in 
their  habits.  The  women  dress  in  a  short  skirt,  reach- 
ing to  the  knees,  and  so  arranged  that  it  looks  like  a 
kind  of  trousers.  They  fasten  a  piece  of  cloth  across 
their  breasts,  for  the  King  had  a  law  passed  fifteen 
years  ago  that  women  should  not  appear  nude  and 
that  they  should  cover  their  bosoms ;  but  he  neglected 
to  legislate  on  their  chewing  areca  or  betel  nut,  a 
habit  so  constantly  and  freely  indulged  in,  that  the  red 
saliva  is  alwa}Ts  running  out  of  their  mouths.  They 
shingle  their  hair  behind  and  roach  it  back  from  the 
forehead  in  front;  and  with  all  their  dirt  and  half 
naked  bodies  they  are  so  fond  of  jewelry  that  one 
often  sees  a  diamond  bracelet  worth  several  hundred 
dollars  on  a  most  unclean  arm.  The  immorality  of 
the  Siamese  women  is  really  deplorable ;  there  are  few 
oriental  countries  where  they  have  fallen  so  low. 


The  power  of  the  King  is  absolute ;  in  fact  the  land 
and  everything  in  the  kingdom  belongs  to  him  and  his 
subjects  know  nothing  greater  nor  more  powerful 
than  their  King.  He  has  no  less  than  sixteen  names 
to  distinguish  him  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  his 
brothers,  for  the  most  part,  constitute  the  members 
of  his  cabinet.  They  also  hold  several  other  govern- 
ment offices,  for  he  has  no  less  than  twenty-four  of 
these  relatives  and  probably  as  many  sisters;  so  it  is 
small  wonder  that  the  temptation  of  nepotism  is  great. 

The  commerce  of  the  country  is  so  largely  in  the 
hands  of  foreigners  that  the  Siamese  are  really  non- 
entities in  their  own  country.  The  rice  mills  are 
owned  by  the  Chinese  and  the  gambling  houses,  that 
great  source  of  revenue  to  the  King,  are  run  by  China- 
men. 

Siam  is  very  level  and  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach 
there  is  nothing  to  be  seen  but  "  paddy  fields,"  as  the 
Orientals  call  the  mud  and  water  patches  where  the 
rice  grows.  It  is  not  until  you  get  far  into  the  in- 
terior that  there  is  any  high  ground.  The  currency 
of  the  country  is  called  the  "  tical,"  and  the  old  cur- 
rency is  very  peculiar.  It  consists  of  silver  cut  or 
hammered  into  a  flattened  ball  with  a  deep  groove  on 
one  side  and  a  small  chop,  or  stamp  on  the  other,  to 
show  in  what  reign  it  was  issued.  The  coins  were 
made  in  this  shape  so  they  could  be  easily  picked  up 
by  the  gamblers,  but  many  counterfeits  were  found 
among  them,  their  shape  making  it  impossible  for 


A  Siamese  Woman 


BANGKOK,    A    MODERNIZED    CITY          145 

them  to  ring.  A  new  currency  has  been  issued,  flat 
with  milled  edges,  like  that  of  other  countries,  with  a 
medallion  of  the  King  on  one  side  and  the  coat  of  arms 
of  Siam  on  the  other.  The  new  tical  is  the  size  of  an 
American  half  dollar  but  worth  only  half  as  much. 
In  the  last  few  years  the  chartered  bank  of  India  and 
Australia,  and  the  Hongkong  and  Shanghai  bank, 
have  been  allowed  by  the  government  to  issue  differ- 
ent denominations  of  tical  in  paper,  which  is  more 
convenient  to  handle. 

One  of  my  many  pleasant  remembrances  of 
Bangkok  is  meeting  the  editor  of  the  Siam  Ob- 
server, who  came  to  the  hotel  to  interview  me.  He 
said  that  he  deemed  the  impressions  of  a  person  who 
had  traveled  so  extensively  and  seen  so  many  cities 
and  countries,  worth  gathering,  and  he  wanted  me  to 
be  very  careful  in  what  I  said  about  Bangkok  and 
Siam,  for  it  would  be  read  by  the  King  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  royal  family.  The  interview  was  nearly  a 
column  in  length,  and  I  understood  that  the  King  was, 
highly  pleased  with  all  I  said  in  praise  of  himself  and 
his  country. 


CHAPTER   THIRTEEN 

THE    ISLAND    OF    SINGAPORE 

ORTUNATELY  the  Delia  was  to  leave  Bang- 
•*•  kok  for  Singapore  just  as  I  was  ready  to  sail.  It 
was  a  three  days'  trip,  and  although  the  weather  was 
exceedingly  hot,  there  was  always  a  cool  spot  to  be 
found  somewhere  on  board.  The  English  passengers 
grumbled  a  good  deal  because  there  were  no  punkers  in 
the  dining  room,  but  the  boat  was  built  for  the  East 
Indian  service,  and  the  Dutch  believe  that  the  punker 
cools  the  air  too  suddenly  and  causes  one  to  take  cold. 
The  punker  is  a  long  fan,  made  by  tacking  cloth  to  a 
strip  of  wood  and  suspending  it  from  the  ceiling  in 
such  a  way  that  it  can  easily  be  swung  by  means  of 
long  ropes  attached  to  it  and  pulled  by  coolies.  This 
device  is  much  used  in  oriental  countries  for  cooling 
the  atmosphere. 

Singapore  has  a  splendid  harbor  which  is  always 
full  of  shipping.  Most  of  the  boats  go  alongside  the 
quay,  but  we  arrived  before  daylight  and  stopped  half 
a  mile  from  shore.  All  the  passengers  were  up  as 
soon  as  it  was  light  and  then  came  the  usual  bartering 
with  the  native  boatmen  to  take  us  ashore.  If  there 
are  any  fixed  rates  in  oriental  countries  one  is  a  long 
time  in  finding  it  out ;  for  the  natives  always  take  ad- 

146 


The  Sacred  White  Elephant  of  Siam 


THE    ISLAND    OF    SINGAPORE  147 : 

'•* 
vantage  of  newcomers,  and  everyone  else  when  it  is 

possible. 

On  reaching  shore  we  were  met  by  a  number  of 
Malay  runners  from  the  different  hotels  and  they 
were  about  as  hard  to  contend  with  as  the  native  boat- 
men. The  hotels  are  about  a  mile  from  the  landing 
but  the  different  points  are  a  long  way  apart  in 
Singapore. 

The  town  is  about  three  miles  distant  from  the 
residence  district.  Even  there  it  takes  a  long  time 
to  visit  one's  friends,  for  the  houses  and  even  the 
public  buildings  are  surrounded  with  acres  of  ground 
and  this  makes  them  a  great  distance  apart.  The 
dwelling  places  are  very  charming,  having  been  built 
in  great  groves  of  cocoanut  and  palm  trees. 

There  are  few  places  in  the  Orient  that  excite  the 
admiration  of  the  stranger  as  much  as  Singapore, 
viewed  from  the  deck  of  the  steamer.  The  greater 
part  of  the  island  is  flat,  the  climate  the  same  the 
year  round,  hot  and  oppressive,  for  it  lies  almost  on 
the  equator,  and  the  island,  like  the  climate,  never 
changes;  it  is  always  a  beautiful  green.  On  the 
esplanade  stands  the  statue  of  Sir  Stamford  Raffles, 
who  founded  Singapore  in  1819  and  served  as  its 
first  English  governor. 

Singapore  has  a  fine  situation  in  the  most  south- 
erly part  of  Asia.  The  English,  wishing  to  have  a 
port  far  enough  north  so  steamers  going  to  and  from 
Europe  could  call,  swapped  Java  with  the  Dutch  for 


148      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

Singapore,  and  it  has  been  an  English  possession 
ever  since.  Persons  coming  from  China  and  Japan 
by  the  northern  route,  and  those  going  to  China  by 
the  same  route,  change  steamers  at  Singapore  if  they 
propose  visiting  the  Dutch  East  Indies.  The  boats 
of  the  Royal  Packet  Company,  owned  by  the  Dutch, 
are  considered  the  best  by  travelers,  for  they  run  to 
all  the  different  parts  of  the  East  Indies  and  their 
decks  are  furnished  with  reclining  chairs  and  lounges, 
where  the  passengers  take  their  afternoon  tea  and 
siestas,  often,  as  well,  spending  the  night  in  the  cool 
air  of  the  deck  instead  of  going  to  their  cabins  below. 
I  had  gone  on  board  the  steamer  the  night  previous 
to  its  sailing  and  it  lay  alongside  the  dock  all  night. 
There  is  no  describing  how  I  suffered  with  the  mos- 
quitoes, for  Singapore's  pests  are  terrible. 

The  first  dawn  of  day  found  me  on  deck  and  I  had 
hardly  seated  myself  when  I  saw  the  captain  taking 
his  coffee,  which  is  the  custom  in  these  countries  to 
do  as  soon  as  one  arises.  This  captain  was  an  ex- 
ceedingly homely  man;  his  hair  was  bright  red,  his 
light  Dutch  complexion  had  been  burned  by  the 
tropical  sun  until  it  was  almost  as  red  as  his  hair,  and 
he  was  bespeckled  with  freckles  almost  as  large  as 
peas.  To  add  to  his  ungainly  appearance  he  was 
dressed  in  pajamas  made  from  Javanese  sarongs  of 
gorgeous  coloring,  and  he  wore  a  jacket  made  from 
some  white  material  which  was  not  clean.  On  his 
head  was  a  white  cap,  also  dirty,  and  he  walked 


The  Raffles  Museum,  Singapore 


THE    ISLAND    OF    SINGAPORE  149 

around  quite  as  complacently  as  if  he  were  in  full 
dress.  I  was  very  much  disgusted  with  his  appear- 
ance, but  it  was  not  long  before  the  other  passengers 
came  on  deck  and  I  discovered  that  all,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  German  Governor  from  Apia,  one 
of  the  Samoan  islands,  and  his  doctor,  were  similarly 
attired.  The  women  wore  sarongs  with  white  sacks 
and  no  stockings  and  Javanese  toe  slippers. 

For  breakfast,  however,  the  captain  put  on  a  neat 
suit  of  white,  and  on  his  left  at  the  table  sat  the  Ger- 
man Governor  and  his  doctor;  while  the  seat  on  his 
right  was  given  to  me.  On  my  left  sat  two  Amer- 
ican gentlemen,  so  that,  at  our  end  of  the  table, 
everyone  was  properly  attired,  while  most  of  the 
Dutch  passengers  breakfasted  in  pajamas  and  sar- 
ongs. It  was  not  until  dinner  time  that  the  pajamas 
were  discarded,  though  many  put  them  on  again  as 
soon  as  dinner  was  over.  In  many  places  in  the 
Dutch  East  Indies  the  women,  as  well  as  the  men, 
wear  pajamas  all  day;  and  it  is  not  until  evening 
that  they  dress,  often  in  silk,  satin  and  velvet,  and  go 
to  call  upon  their  friends  as  late  as  ten  o'clock. 

At  one  of  the  steamship  offices  in  Singapore  I 
received  a  small  guide  book  to  the  Dutch  East  Indies 
containing  a  paragraph  advising  tourists  to  take 
enough  pajamas  along  to  have  at  least  a  clean  pair 
for  each  meal.  A  pair  of  pajamas,  he  said,  were 
hardly  the  thing  to  wear  at  the  table  after  they  had 
been  slept  in  all  night. 


150      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

The  sarong  is  the  native  dress  worn  by  both  sexes. 
These,  and  cotton  handkerchiefs  which  the  men  wear 
on  their  heads,  are  manufactured  by  machinery  in 
Batavia.  They  are  stamped  after  the  manner  of 
calico,  but  thousands  are  still  woven  on  hand  looms 
by  the  women  in  the  native  houses.  The  cloth,  after 
it  is  woven  and  before  it  receives  the  color,  is  called 
a  "  battek,"  and  the  beauty  and  fineness  of  the  sarong 
all  depend  on  how  the  "  battek "  is  woven.  The 
largest  sarongs  are  about  two  yards  in  length  and 
from  three-quarters  to  over  a  yard  in  width.  Their 
colorings  are  very  gorgeous,  one  end  usually  being  in 
some  fancy  design.  They  are  worn  by  putting 
them  straight  around  the  waist  and  then  drawing 
them  up  under  a  string  or  belt,  crossing  the  fancy 
end  over  the  plain  in  front.  The  Dutch  law  com- 
pels the  native  people  to  wear  the  dress  of  their  coun- 
try; but  if  the  men  wear  the  foreign  trousers  they 
must  loop  the  sarong  around  their  waists  and  wear 
the  native  handkerchief  about  their  heads.  If  a  man 
wears  a  foreign  hat  he  must  cut  the  crown  out  of  it, 
for  the  native  people  are  not  allowed  to  wear  foreign 
headgear,  neither  are  they  allowed  to  wear  foreign 
shoes;  even  the  soldiers  are  compelled  to  go  bare- 
footed. Of  course,  thin  materials  that  will  wash  are 
most  desirable  in  these  hot  climates  where  the  ther- 
mometer often  registers  100°  in  the  shade;  but  one 
soon  regulates  his  habits  and  manners  of  living 
according  to  the  customs  of  the  country  he  is  in. 


JAVA 


CHAPTER   FOURTEEN 

"  THE  LAND    OF    PAJAMAS   AND    SARONGS " 

TF  one  intends  to  make  a  tour  of  the  whole  island 
of  Java  some  warm  wraps  are  necessary,  for  at 
Tosari,  the  highest  health  resort,  which  is  only  about 
6000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  one  suffers  with 
the  cold  after  coming  from  the  hot  climate  below. 
Even  at  the  height  of  two  or  three  thousand  feet  it  is 
cool  enough  to  be  very  enjoyable. 

On  the  boat  one  gets  the  first  insight  into  the  way 
the  people  of  the  Dutch  East  Indies  live.  There  are 
no  bath  tubs,  the  water  usually  stands  in  a  large  tub 
and  you  pour  it  over  your  head  with  a  cup  or  pail. 
The  meals  are  about  the  same  as  those  at  the  first- 
class  hotels  in  Java.  In  the  morning,  as  soon  as  one 
rises,  coffee  is  brought  to  the  room  in  a  small  bottle 
that  holds  two  or  three  spoonfuls  and  corked  with  a 
glass  stopper.  The  coffee  kernel  is  browned  until 
it  is  almost  black,  and,  as  the  decoction  is  generally 
made  a  day  or  two  before  it  is  used,  it  is  as  strong  as 
can  be,  and  similar  to  a  coffee  extract.  One  tea- 
spoonful  is  quite  strong  enough  for  an  ordinary  cup, 
which  is  prepared  by  putting  one  teaspoonful  of  the 
extract  into  a  cup  and  filling  it  with  hot  milk.  I  had 
heard  a  great  deal  about  the  delicious  coffee  of  Java. 

153 


154      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

The  Javanese,  it  was  said,  were  the  only  people  who 
knew  how  to  make  coffee  to  perfection;  but  this  was 
not  my  experience,  for  I  thought  that  of  all  the  great 
coffee  countries  I  had  visited  they  knew  the  least 
about  making  the  beverage. 

Breakfast  is  served  at  eight  o'clock  and  consists 
mostly  of  cold  dishes, — meat,  jam,  bread,  butter  and 
tea.  At  twelve  o'clock  luncheon  is  served,  called  the 
Dutch  India  rice  table,  for  large  bowls  of  rice,  hold- 
ing several  gallons,  are  passed  around  with  a  pint 
scoop  to  dish  it  out.  Each  person  proceeds  to  fill 
his  deep  plate  full,  and  then  come  the  different  dishes 
to  be  mixed  with  the  rice.  Sometimes  there  are  no 
less  than  twelve  kinds  of  boiled,  baked,  fried  and 
dried  meats,  chicken,  fish,  soup,  pickles,  vegetables, 
chutney  and  other  sauces  mixed  with  the  rice  before 
it  is  eaten.  It  is  surprising  how  much  of  this  mix- 
ture the  Dutch  can  eat  and  it  is  served  for  this  meal 
the  year  around.  After  this,  beefsteak  and  potatoes 
are  usually  served  and  there  is  fruit  for  dessert  and 
coffee.  Dinner  consists  of  four  courses  with  some 
kind  of  pudding  and  ice  for  dessert,  also  tea  and 
coffee.  All  kinds  of  drinks  may  be  had  by  paying 
extra  for  them. 

At  the  hotels,  before  luncheon  and  dinner,  an  ap- 
petizer free  to  all  the  guests  is  set  out  on  the  veranda. 
It  is  a  liquor  something  like  the  Russian  vodka,  but 
stronger.  There  is  also  a  tonic,  a  dark-colored  mix- 
ture, and  the  two  together  make  a  very  strong  drink. 


"THE  LAND   OF  PAJAMAS   AND    SARONGS"    155 

The  Dutch  never  drink  Singapore  soda  water,  which 
is  so  popular  in  Siam  and  on  some  of  the  steamship 
lines,  for  they  believe  it  to  be  very  unhealthf ul.  They 
drink  nothing  but  Apollinaris  water,  which  is  shipped 
to  Java  by  the  thousands  of  gallons.  The  water  of 
Java  is  not  generally  good,  as  few  of  the  cities  have 
water  works.  Most  of  it  comes  from  springs  and 
wells  and  it  often  causes  fever  and  cholera. 

There  was  little  excitement  on  the  boat.  About 
all  one  can  do  in  these  hot  climates  is  to  keep  as  quiet 
as  possible  and  not  overheat  the  blood.  Everyone 
was  anxious  to  know  just  when  we  would  cross  the 
equator  and,  though  I  had  crossed  it  eight  times  be- 
fore, I  was  as  interested  as  any  of  the  other  passen- 
gers. The  ocean  was  as  smooth  as  a  floor  and  we 
were  always  in  sight  of  pretty  evergreen  islands. 

As  Java  came  into  view  it  presented  a  charming 
appearance;  and  soon  the  boat  entered  the  spacious 
harbor  of  Tand-jony-Priok,  filled  with  the  shipping 
that  mostly  belonged  to  the  Dutch  companies.  The 
steamer  proceeds  to  the  dock  and  as  soon  as  the  plank 
is  thrown  out  the  Javanese  boys,  or  porters,  come  on 
board  from  the  hotels  of  Batavia  to  meet  the  passen- 
gers. Your  baggage  must  all  go  to  the  customs 
house  near  the  landing  to  see  if  you  have  any  firearms 
with  you.  A  little  farther  on  is  the  railway  station 
where  you  buy  your  ticket  and  book  your  baggage 
for  Batavia,  which  is  situated  inland  an  hour's  ride  by 
train. 


156        NEWEST   WAY   ROUND    THE   WORLD 

Entering  Batavia  one  must  be  careful  to  get  off 
at  the  right  station.  The  hotels  and  the  best  resi- 
dences are  in  the  new  part  called  Weltervreden,  and 
if  you  go  to  the  hotel  first  you  change  your  station  at 
Batavia  and  take  another  train  for  either  the  station, 
Noordwijk  or  Koningsplein,  where  carriages  and 
omnibuses  are  waiting  to  take  you  to  the  hotels. 

The  first  vehicle  which  attracts  a  stranger's  atten- 
tion at  Batavia  is  a  small  two-wheeled  carriage 
spelled  "  dos-a-dos  "  and  pronounced  "  sado."  The 
driver  sits  in  the  middle  to  balance  it,  and  the  passen- 
gers sit  with  their  back  to  the  driver  facing  the  street. 
You  get  into  it  from  a  small  step  at  the  back,  where 
there  is  nothing  for  you  to  take  hold  of,  and  often  the 
pony  starts  as  soon  as  he  feels  the  pressure  of  a  foot 
on  the  small  step.  This  raises  the  shafts ;  and  as  the 
drivers  are  often  half  asleep  you  are  liable  to  get  a 
fall,  as  I  did,  nor  did  I  recover  from  the  effects  of  it 
for  days.  Thank  goodness,  these  conveyances  are 
found  nowhere  else  in  the  world. 

The  hotels  are  situated  along  the  tramway  which 
runs  through  the  old  and  the  new  town.  The  Hotel 
des  Indies  is  the  largest  and  best  in  Java.  The  main 
parts  of  the  hotels  are  usually  two  stories  in  height, 
never  higher,  for  to  ascend  to  the  second  story  is 
tiring  in  these  hot  climates.  They  are  plainly  fur- 
nished with  wide  beds  and  good  mosquito  bars 
around  them,  well  tucked  in  at  night.  Only  one 
sheet  is  put  on  the  bed  and  a  long  bolster  is  laid  in 


Javanese  Men  in  Native  Sarongs 


"THE   LAND   OF  PAJAMAS   AND    SARONGS"    157 

the  middle  lengthwise,  which  a  person  is  supposed  to 
embrace  and  hold  next  the  body  to  keep  the  vitals 
warm,  with  no  other  covering  but  one's  nightclothes. 

Batavia  has  a  population  of  200,000  but  no  sewers 
and  no  water  works.  A  river  runs  through  the  city 
having  the  appearance  of  a  canal.  It  is  walled  up 
some  thirty  or  forty  feet  on  either  side  and  it  has 
been  so  dredged  out  that  the  current  is  very  swift. 
Into  this  river  every  conceivable  kind  of  filth  is 
thrown.  The  natives  bathe  in  it  and  drink  the  water, 
while  most  of  the  clothes  worn  in  Batavia  are  washed 
in  this  useful  stream.  It  looks  as  thick  as  mud,  it  is 
so  impregnated  with  the  red  clay  washed  down  from 
the  mountains.  The  water  used  for  cooking  is  taken 
from  wells.  When  I  visited  Batavia  in  1892  it  had 
not  rained  for  seven  months*  and  all  the  parks  and 
plazas  were  as  dry  as  an  ash  heap  and  the  cholera 
was  spreading  badly,  as  is  always  the  case  when  there 
is  a  continued  drought. 

The  old  part  of  Batavia  can  scarcely  be  called 
pretty.  The  buildings  are  old-fashioned  and 
crowded  together,  while  the  streets  are  dirty  and 
there  is  a  large  native  population;  but  the  most  im- 
portant business  houses,  such  as  the  banks,  are  in  this 
part  of  the  city.  It  is  the  upper  part,  or  the  new 
towrn  called  Weltervreden,  that  is  so  attractive  and 
the  prettiest  oriental  city  in  the  world.  It  looks 
very  little  like  a  city,  for  the  dwellings  are  situated 
on  either  side  of  long  well-paved  streets  and  are  sur- 


158      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

rounded  by  acres  of  ground,  which  give  them  the 
appearance  of  villas  as  well  as  a  very  rural  look. 
They  are  only  one  story  high,  but  they  cover  a  great 
deal  of  ground  and  have  wide  verandas.  At  night 
they  are  brilliantly  lighted  with  electricity,  and  it  is 
a  pretty  sight  to  ride  through  the  town  at  that  time 
and  see  it  lighted  up.  The  whole  city  is  built  in  a 
magnificent  forest  of  tropical  trees  and  plants. 
Many  of  the  stores  along  the  river  have  large 
grounds  around  them  and  look  more  like  dwellings 
than  shops.  At  five  in  the  afternoon  and  until  late 
in  the  evening  the  streets  are  full  of  splendid  equi- 
pages filled  with  people  riding  with  uncovered  heads 
to  cool  off. 

There  are  only  a  few  places  of  interest  to  visit. 
In  the  old  town  are  the  gates  of  the  old  Batavian 
Castle,  with  two  immense  black  statues  on  each  side 
of  the  door,  but  it  would  be  impossible  to  say  what 
they  represent.  To  the  west,  and  not  far  from  the 
gate,  is  the  old  cannon  of  Mariam,  considered  sacred 
by  the  natives,  who  believe  it  will  produce  life  and 
fertility,  and  they  keep  offerings  and  sacred  oil  con- 
tinually burning  around  it. 

The  Chinese  town  has  rather  a  pretty  situation 
and  a  population  of  over  20,000.  They  are  not  good 
looking  like  the  Chinese  of  Singapore,  for  most  of 
them  are  mixed  with  the  Javanese.  The  museum  is 
very  interesting,  the  exhibits  being  mostly  from  the 
islands  in  the  archipelago.  In  a  small  room  in 


charge  of  one  of  the  attendants  one  sees  the  things 
that  belonged  to  the  Mara j a  of  Batavia,  among  them 
a  golden  chair,  a  number  of  rings,  swords,  sheaths, 
and  a  hat  that  was  worn  by  the  Mara  j  a,  studded  with 
diamonds,  rubies  and  emeralds.  In  another  room  is 
a  collection  of  Buddhist  gods  from  the  old  temples  in 
the  center  of  Java,  while  in  still  another  room  may 
be  seen  the  instruments  of  punishment  used  by  the 
natives  before  the  island  came  info  the  possession  of 
the  Dutch.  One  visit  to  this  room  is  sufficient,  for 
the  sight  is  most  harrowing.  There  is  also  a  library 
in  connection  with  the  museum,  in  the  front  of  which 
is  a  bronze  elephant,  a  present  from  the  King  of 
Siam,  who,  with  the  queen,  has  twice  visited  Java. 

Batavia  was  founded  in  the  first  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  as  the  capital  of  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company.  It  is  an  hour's  ride  to  Buitenzorg  and 
there  are  a  number  of  trains  a  day;  but  it  is  always 
best  to  take  one  reaching  there  before  two,  as  after 
that  there  is  always  a  terrific  rain  storm  accompanied 
by  wind,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  to  escape  a  thor- 
ough soaking. 

There  is  little  difference  between  the  climate  of 
these  two  cities,  although  the  difference  in  the  alti- 
tude is  a  thousand  feet.  Another  rather  remarkable 
thing  is  the  fact  that  one  city  is  flooded  with  rain 
while  the  other  does  not  get  a  drop  once  in  seven 
months.  The  great  beauty  of  Buitenzorg  is  its 
tropical  scenery,  for  the  constant  rain  and  the  great 


160      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

heat  bring  out  the  foliage  to  perfection.  From  the 
rear  cottages  of  the  Hotel  Bellevue  there  is  a  fine 
view  over  the  Valley  of  Tjiliwong  and  the  Gedeh 
and  the  Salak  mountains,  which  are  covered  to  the 
top  with  a  thick,  tropical  jungle. 

But  this  is  only  the  appetizer  before  the  feast. 
Rising  early  in  the  morning  one  sets  out  to  visit  the 
Botanical  Gardens,  for  it  is  impossible  to  walk 
through  the  dense  forest  after  it  grows  hot.  The 
Botanical  Gardens  were  established  in  1817  by  Rein- 
wardt,  and  they  are  considered  the  finest  of  their  kind 
in  the  world.  They  are  certainly  the  finest  sight  in 
Buitenzorg,  but  I  will  not  attempt  to  give  a  detailed 
account  of  them,  for  they  are  so  extensive,  and  they 
embrace  so  many  departments,  it  would  involve  a 
long  list  of  botanical  names.  They  are  greatly  en- 
joyed by  all  who  see  them,  but  it  is  the  botanist  who 
has  the  greatest  feast. 

The  Governor  General's  mansion  is  surrounded 
by  these  gardens,  which  give  it  the  appearance  of 
being  situated  in  an  immense  forest.  Often  in  the 
early  morning  the  Governor  General  and  his  wife 
may  be  seen  walking  through  them,  chatting  and 
laughing  like  a  pair  of  lovers.  Buitenzorg  is  a  de- 
lightful place.  Most  of  the  best  buildings  are  sur- 
rounded by  fine  gardens  of  shrubs  and  trees  whose 
foliage  is  so  dense  that  it  effectually  screens  them. 

Early  one  morning  I  took  the  train  for  Garoet, 
my  next  stopping  place.  The  railroads  are  owned 


"THE  LAND  OF  PAJAMAS  AND  SARONGS"  161 

by  the  government  and  the  trains  run  about  sixteen 
miles  an  hour.  They  are  usually  crowded,  for  the 
passengers  generally  bring  the  greater  part  of  their 
baggage  into  the  coaches  to  avoid  paying  for  it. 
The  first-class  passengers  are  allowed  only  forty 
pounds,  so  every  available  space  in  the  car  is  crowded 
with  some  kind  of  luggage  and  the  conductors  fall 
over  it  a  dozen  times  a  day,  without  saying  a  word. 
One  of  the  coaches  is  divided  into  a  first  and  second 
class  compartment  and  there  is  a  third-class  Euro- 
pean and  a  third-class  native  coach. 

After  leaving  Buitenzorg  the  road  runs  through  a 
broken  and  hilly  country,  with  any  number  of 
"  paddy  "  fields  wherever  it  is  possible  to  find  a  few 
yards  of  level  ground.  I  have  traveled  through 
thousands  of  rice  fields  but  never,  until  I  went  to 
Java,  did  I  see  rice  fields  so  truly  beautiful.  In 
places  the  rice  grew  on  terraces  on  the  hillsides  two 
or  three  hundred  feet  high ;  indeed  there  was  so  much 
variety  displayed  in  its  cultivation  it  would  seem  as 
if  the  fields  had  been  designed  by  a  landscape 
gardener. 

Garoet  was  once  a  health  resort,  but  now  the  sani- 
tarium has  been  turned  into  a  boarding  house,  for  it 
was  not  high  enough  to  derive  any  benefit  from  a 
change  in  the  climate.  I  enjoyed  a  rest  of  a  few 
days  there,  for  the  boarding  house  was  very  comfort- 
able and  supplied  with  pure  water  that  came  from 
the  mountains  some  distance  away.  The  European 


162      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

part  of  the  town  is  prettily  situated,  but  there  is  a 
large  native  town  that  is  very  dirty.  One  evening  I 
went  to  see  the  native  theater,  or  wa-jang.  I  was 
told  it  would  be  something  like  a  puppet  show,  and 
that  the  puppets  were  cut  out  of  buffalo  hides.  It 
was  said  that  they  had  funny  thin  legs  and  resem- 
bled the  wooden  dolls  sold  by  the  natives  in  the 
streets.  On  arriving,  however,  I  was  much  disap- 
pointed, for  it  appeared  from  all  indications  that  I 
was  about  to  see  a  show  which  had  been  in  America; 
an  American  is  not  long  in  recognizing  the  charac- 
teristics of  his  own  country. 

In  this  case  they  wrere  trying  to  act  a  foreign  play, 
and  there  was  nothing  Javanese  about  it  but  the 
actors,  who  had  belonged  to  the  Javanese  village  at 
the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago,  and  wonderfully  gotten 
up  they  were.  The  different  acts  were  long  and 
tedious  and  there  was  a  great  deal  of  singing  and 
long-drawn-out  dialogues,  but  toward  the  end  things 
took  a  wonderful  change  and  all  the  actors  decided 
to  die.  It  was  not  long  before  they  appeared  in 
ethereal  robes  and  tremendous  wings  and  commenced 
the  ascent  to  heaven;  but  the  ropes  did  not  work  well 
and  they  all  came  near  getting  their  necks  broken 
before  they  were  pulled  out  of  sight.  So  far  they 
had  used  only  the  Malay  language,  which  is  the  lan- 
guage of  the  native  Javanese.  At  the  conclusion, 
however,  all  the  actors  came  out  and  sang  "  John 
Brown's  Body  "  in  good  round  English,  but  the  song 


"THE  LAND  OF  PAJAMAS  AND  SARONGS"  163 

was  not  known  to  any  of  the  foreigners  present  ex- 
cepting myself,  and  when  I  explained.it  to  the  others 
they  all  enjoyed  it  heartily.  I  am  sure  that  no  song 
ever  written  in  America  has  been  sung  by  different 
foreign  nations  the  world  over  as  has  "  John  Brown's 
Body."  If  John  Brown's  soul  has  been  on  the 
march  as  long  as  the  song  which  celebrates  the  great 
liberator,  it  has  surely  visited  a  lot  of  countries  since 
John  Brown's  body  has  been  moldering  in  the  grave. 
Garoet  is  situated  near  a  number  of  volcanoes,  one 
of  which  is  the  most  active  in  Java.  The  crater  most 
visited  is  that  of  Papandajan,  and  to  visit  it  takes 
almost  a  whole  day,  for  it  is  necessary  to  leave  the 
hotel  at  three  in  the  morning  so  as  to  make  the  ascent 
before  the  heat  of  the  day.  As  soon  as  I  arrived  at 
the  hotel,  everyone  I  chanced  to  meet  asked  me  if  I 
was  going  to  visit  the  famous  crater;  and,  as  most  of 
the  guests  had  been  there  they  all  seemed  anxious  to 
impress  me  with  the  vision  of  the  wonderful  sight  to 
be  seen.  An  "old  Dutch  gentleman  who  could  not 
speak  English  got  off  a  lot  of  Dutch  adjectives  to 
describe  how  he  was  impressed  with  the  sight,  and 
the  various  contortions  of  his  face,  as  he  rolled  off 
these  tremendous  words,  each  of  which  must  have 
contained  a  dozen  letters,  made  me  very  nervous,  for 
I  was  afraid  his  jaw  would  be  dislocated  in  the  effort. 
As  I  got  into  the  two-wheeled  cart  drawn  by  two 
ponies,  I  heard  something  pass  through  the  air  very 
swiftly,  but  it  did  not  occur  to  me  until  some  time 


NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

later  how  near  I  came  to  being  kicked  by  one  of  the 
ponies,  a  very  vicious  animal.  It  was  quite  dark  at 
the  early  hour  I  left  the  hotel  for  the  volcano,  but 
the  ponies  were  good  travelers  and  we  passed  swiftly 
through  the  darkness.  We  had  not  proceeded  far  on 
our  journey,  however,  when  I  felt  quite  cold,  and 
my  native  driver,  who  was  thinly  clad,  was  shaking 
like  an  aspen  leaf  from  the  chilly  atmosphere. 

At  Garoet  it  was  just  cool  enough  to  be  pleasant 
at  this  hour,  and  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  a  few 
hundred  feet  could  make  such  a  difference  in  the  tem- 
perature in  this  hot  climate.  I  arrived  before  nine  at 
Tjiseroepan,  the  station  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain, 
where  a  sedan  chair,  or  djoecies,  must  be  taken  to 
complete  the  journey.  I  had  rather  an  exciting 
time  in  my  effort  to  avoid  being  kicked  by  the  pony 
as  I  alighted  from  the  cart,  and  it  took  the  combined 
power  of  six  coolies  to  hold  him.  But  these  little 
incidents  break  the  monotony  of  travel  and  give  one 
something  exciting  to  tell  one's  friends  at  home. 

Chairs  and  coolies  were  waiting  for  me.  They 
are  constantly  on  the  lookout  for  persons  making 
the  trip  and  they  appear  to  see  them  several  miles 
away.  It  was  impossible  for  the  coolies  to  carry  me 
at  the  steepest  parts  of  the  ascent  and  I  had  a  long, 
steep  walk  both  up  and  down  the  mountains.  Ar- 
riving at  the  top  I  found  a  board  shanty  conveniently 
erected  for  eating  luncheons,  and  from  this  point  I 
had  a  good  view  of  the  crater  below,  which  is  filled 


Gathering  Cocoanuts  in  Juru 


"THE   LAND  OF  PAJAMAS   AND    SARONGS"    165 

with  a  number  of  hot  formations,  some  of  which  are 
mud  geysers,  others  of  a  sulphurous  nature,  that 
make  a  good  deal  of  noise  as  they  throw  up  their  hot 
vapors. 

As  my  guide  took  me  through  these  geysers'  he 
continually  asked  me  if  I  had  ever  seen  anything  like 
them  before.  It  was  useless  for  me  to  tell  how  dis- 
appointed I  was  after  the  glowing  descriptions  I  had 
received,  for  I  had  visited  most  of  the  famous  craters 
in  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  after  seeing  Yellow- 
stone Park  and  the  Wonderland  of  New  Zealand,  I 
scarcely  felt  repaid  for  my  visit.  The  only  enjoya- 
ble thing  to  me  was  the  trip  through  the  splendid  for- 
ests, the  coffee  and  sugar  plantations  and  the  "  paddy 
fields."  This  crater  has  not  been  in  active  eruption 
since  1772,  but  at  that  time  it  was  very  destructive 
and  forty  villages  were  destroyed  together  with 
3000  people. 

There  are  a  number  of  other  excursions  to  be  made 
from  Garoet  to  the  neighboring  mountains,  but  as 
I  had  seen  the  best  of  these  sights  I  thought  it  hardly 
worth  while  to  spend  any  more  time  and,  therefore, 
proceeded  on  my  way,  to  find  that  my  train  would  go 
no  farther  than  Maos,  the  great  junction  of  the  Jav- 
anese railroads,  where  connections  are  made  with  all 
the  other  railroads  on  the  island. 

When  Central  Java  is  reached  the  heat  is  much 
greater  and  railroad  travel  much  more  tedious.  The 
rays  of  the  tropical  sun,  beating  on  the  tops  of  the 


166      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

cars,  heats  the  air  inside  until  it  is  almost  suffocating ; 
and  that,  with  the  dust  which  comes  in  through  the 
windows  and  doors,  makes  one  fairly  gasp  for 
breath.  The  cars  do  not  run  at  night  so  of  course 
there  are  no  sleepers,  although  it  would  be  much  more 
comfortable  if  one  could  travel  at  night  and  lie  by 
in  the  daytime,  but  it  is  not  considered  safe,  for  the 
natives  who  run  the  trains  are  not  skilled  enough  nor 
sufficiently  careful  to  run  a  train  at  night. 

Another  disagreeable  feature  of  Javanese  railroad 
travel  is  the  way  they  have  of  feeding  their  passen- 
gers. Just  after  the  train  starts  the  conductor  goes 
through  the  cars  and  finds  out  how  many  want 
luncheon,  of  which  there  are  two  kinds,  the  beefsteak 
and  the  rice  table,  and  you  are  asked  which  you  will 
have.  Somewhere  near  the  noon  hour  two  men 
come  into  the  car  with  a  lot  of  tin  pails,  such  as 
workmen  carry  in  America,  each  pail  having  three 
divisions.  If  you  have  ordered  a  beefsteak  luncheon 
you  will  find  in  the  first  division  a  chunk  of  meat  as 
black  as  tar  and  as  tough  as  leather,  cooked  in  a 
plentiful  amount  of  grease.  In  the  next  division 
are  a  number  of  small  potatoes  cooked  in  rancid! 
grease,  and  in  the  last  division  is  the  salad,  some 
coarse  lettuce  leaves  covered  with  a  miserable  mix- 
ture of  oil  and  vinegar,  and  a  banana  serves  for 
dessert. 

A  glass  is  brought  about  a  quarter  full  of  ice,  and 
you  are  asked  what  size  bottle  of  Apollinaris  you 


"THE   LAND   OF  PAJAMAS   AND    SARONGS"    167 

will  have;  but  when  this  is  brought  it  is  so  hot  it 
causes  the  ice  to  vanish  like  smoke,  and  the  whole 
thing  tastes  like  hot  water.  As  a  result  you  feel  as 
if  you  would  like  to  sit  and  hold  your  head  on  for  an 
hour  or  two  after  this  abominable  mixture.  The  rice- 
table  luncheon  is  the  best,  but  if  you  don't  know  the 
Malay  name  for  rice  you  will  have  to  take  the  beef- 
steak luncheon  for,  thanks  to  kind  Providence,  beef- 
steak has  the  same  name  the  world  over. 

At  Maos  the  Government  Hotel  can  be  endured 
for  one  night.  Its  nearness  to  the  railroad  station 
is  appreciated  by  tourists  for  long  distances  and 
early  trains  mean  very  early  rising  and  a  good  deal 
of  worry  and,  moreover,  coolies  in  oriental  countries 
know  nothing  of  being  on  time  or  in  a  hurry.  The 
train  leaves  Maos  at  five  in  the  morning,  but  even  at 
this  early  hour  the  air  is  not  cool,  like  the  early  morn- 
ing air  in  north  or  west  Java,  and  as  soon  as  the  sun 
is  up  it  is  baking  hot. 


CHAPTER   FIFTEEN 

THE    GREAT    TEMPLE    OF    BORO-BOEDOR 

A  FTER  an  exceedingly  warm  ride  of  four  hours 
•**•  through  a  low  uninteresting  country,  we  arrived 
at  Djokjakarta,  where  we  found  there  would  be  an 
hour's  wait  before  the  train  would  leave  for  Mage- 
lang.  This  would  give  me  time  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  leaving  my  heavy  baggage  at  the  station 
until  my  return.  There  are  two  ways  of  reaching 
Boro-Boedor  from  Djokja,  one  by  driving  all  the 
way  (it  is  twenty-five  miles  by  this  route),  the  other, 
and  less  fatiguing,  by  tram  car  to  Magelang  and 
driving  the  rest  of  the  distance.  By  this  route  it  is 
thirty-two  miles.  The  coolies  scrambled  from  under 
the  trees,  picked  up  the  baggage  and  carried  it  to  the 
train,  and  this  was  the  signal  for  all  to  go  on  board. 
With  many  regrets  we  quitted  our  seats  on  the  broad 
piazza  of  the  railroad  station  shaded  with  palms  and 
canary  trees  and  took  our  seats  in  the  cars,  which 
were  very  ordinary,  for  the  train  was  only  an  accom- 
modation. 

Many  little  villages,  clustered  among  the  tropical 
foliage,  made  a  very  enjoyable  change  in  the  scenery 
after  the  low  uninteresting  country  we  had  just 
passed  through,  and  these  villages  were  built  so 

168 


GREAT   TEMPLE   OF   BORO-BOEDOR       169 

closely  together  it  gave  the  impression  of  but  one 
village  extending  from  Djokja  to  Magelang.  Such 
is  not  the  case,  however,  for  there  are  a  number  of 
these  villages  with  different  names,  and  all  have  their 
"  passer  "  or  native  market,  which  were  being  held  at 
this  early  morning  hour.  The  streets  presented  a 
strange  but  picturesque  appearance,  a  veritable 
kaleidoscope  of  coloring,  both  men  and  women  being 
dressed  in  sarongs  of  every  color  of  the  rainbow,  and 
dozens  of  little  naked  children  stood  on  the  platform 
of  the  station,  their  eyes  and  mouths  wide  open  with 
wonderment  as  though  they  had  never  seen  the  cars 
before.  Their  unkempt  hair  and  little  brown  bodies 
looked  as  if  they  had  never  been  washed,  but  they 
were  all  as  happy  and  contented  as  children  could  be. 
Their  mothers  trudged  along  with  a  long  scarf 
thrown  over  one  shoulder  in  such  a  way  that  it  held  a 
baby  astride  the  hip,  and  many  of  them  were  chewing 
betel  nut  rolled  up  in  a  betel  leaf  mixed  with  some 
lime  to  extract  the  juice,  which  acts  as  a  stimulant 
and  colors  the  mouth  and  teeth  as  black  as  ink.  No 
pen  can  picture  the  disgusting  nastiness  of  oriental 
people  taken  as  a  whole. 

Through  the  mistake  of  my  native  servant,  who 
had  never  made  the  trip  before,  we  left  the  train  at 
the  town  of  Magelang  instead  of  going  a  half  mile 
farther  on  to  the  station  of  Magelang,  where  the 
station  agent  will  telephone  the  livery  stable  for  a 
team.  No  matter  whether  you  speak  Malay  or  not, 


170      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

all  you  have  to  say  is  "  Boro-Boedor  "  and  the  agent 
comprehends  at  once. 

We  soon  discovered  our  mistake  but  we  had  to 
make  the  best  of  it,  and  after  some  delay  found  the 
livery  stable.  The  owner,  a  Chinaman,  informed  us 
that  all  the  best  rigs  had  been  let  to  a  party  which 
were  going  to  a  neighboring  town  on  government 
business,  and  a  cart  and  two  little  ponies  from  San- 
dalwood  Island  were  all  he  had  left.  These  ponies 
are  used  extensively  in  Java,  and  when  I  was  in 
Singapore  I  met  a  man  importing  them  into  Manila, 
though  many  other  kinds  of  horses  are  used  also. 
Most  of  the  race  horses  come  from  Australia.  While 
my  cart  was  being  made  ready  I  found  my  native 
servant  had  hired  no  less  than  six  coolies  to  help  him 
with  my  hand  bag  which  he  could  have  carried  easily 
in  one  hand.  He  said  the  coolies  had  begged  so 
hard  to  help  him  that  he  could  not  resist  their  de- 
mands, and  he  thought  I  would  not  object  to  giving 
them  a  few  cents. 

After  traveling  for  at  least  a  mile  through  the 
town  and  being  followed  by  a  lot  of  curious  natives, 
we  came  to  the  country  road.  It  was  well  paved  and 
on  either  side  grew  large  canary  trees  centuries  old; 
never  during  the  twelve  miles  were  we  out  of  the 
shade  of  these  magnificent  trees.  The  road  ran 
through  a  well-cultivated  plain,  planted  with  rice 
and  sugar  cane  in  different  stages  of  cultivation, 
some  almost  ripened,  others  just  being  made  ready 


GREAT    TEMPLE    OF    BORO-BOEDOR        171 

for  the  rice  planting.  No  fertilizer  is  used  on  the 
rice  fields;  the  stubble  is  plowed  under  and  the  field 
is  then  ready  to  be  planted.  The  rice  is  sown  in  beds 
as  thick  as  it  will  stand,  and  when  about  six  inches  in 
height  it  is  transplanted,  not  more  than  one  or  two 
stalks  to  a  hill,  and  these  hills  about  a  foot  apart,  the 
labor  being  performed  by  men  and  women  wading 
into  the  mud  and  water  up  to  their  knees.  There 
has  been  no  change  in  the  mode  of  cultivating  this 
grain  in  Java  for  1100  years;  and  the  plow,  the 
buffalo  and  the  native  carrying  home  the  "  paddy  " 
tied  to  the  end  of  a  long  pole  and  swung  over  his 
shoulder,  may  be  seen  to-day  chiseled  on  the  walls  of 
Boro-Boedor.  No  animal  but  the  buffalo  can  be 
used  to  plow  the  rice  field,  and  this  mud  ox  is  always 
accompanied  by  a  little  native  boy  who  sits  on  the 
animal's  back  to  keep  him  from  eating  the  rice  while 
he  is  feeding. 

Although  it  was  but  half -past  ten  in  the  morning 
the  country  was  as  deserted  as  if  it  had  been  mid- 
night. The  laborers  had  finished  their  day's  work 
and  had  gone  home.  In  oriental  countries  everyone 
rises  early  in  the  morning  because  it  is  the  coolest 
part  of  the  day  and  the  only  time  when  work  can  be 
done  without  suffering  from  the  heat.  The  natives 
are  in  the  field  by  two  in  the  morning  and  never  labor 
after  ten,  for  the  sun  becomes  too  hot  to  be  endured. 
My  native  driver  was  one  of  the  most  unfeeling  crea- 
tures imaginable.  He  looked  neither  to  the  right 


172     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND   THE    WORLD 

nor  to  the  left,  but  kept  up  such  a  constant  heating 
and  "  hee-heeing  "  at  the  ponies  that  it  became  ex- 
tremely annoying. 

When  we  had  gone  some  miles  I  commenced  to 
look  for  the  temple,  supposing  it  would  come  in  sight, 
as  the  Great  Pyramids  of  Gizeh  in  Egypt  do,  for 
these  can  be  seen  some  miles  before  they  are  reached. 
There  was  nothing  in  sight,  however,  but  the  plain 
we  were  crossing  and  the  high  mountains  in  the  dis- 
tance covered  with  dense  tropical  foliage.  Turning 
to  my  little  driver  and  pointing,  as  I  supposed,  in  the 
right  direction,  I  said  "  Boro-Boedor? "  and  such  a 
look  and  scowl  he  gave  me.  It  seemed  to  say  "  How 
dare  you  ask  me  such  a  question!"  and  the  manner 
of  it  had  the  effect  of  lessening  my  temple  enthusi- 
asm for  the  time  being  and  arousing  my  anger  for 
the  contemptible  little  creature.  However,  we  went 
on  until  he  suddenly  stopped  in  the  road,  stretched 
his  mouth  almost  from  ear  to  ear,  and  pointing  to  a 
hill  not  far  away  he  exclaimed,  "  Boro-Boedor! " 

Looking  in  the  direction  he  indicated,  I  saw  for 
the  first  time  the  great  Hindu  temple.  "  Oh,  how 
disappointing!"  I  thought.  Instead  of  towering 
hundreds  of  feet  above  the  hill  on  which  it  stood  it 
did  not  appear  to  be  more  than  one  hundred  feet  at 
the  highest  point,  and  so  ragged  and  broken  that 
many  openings  in  the  wall  could  be  seen.  Great 
white  stones,  where  the  rust  and  accumulated  dust 
of  ages  had  broken  off  bearing  the  faces  of  the  stone 


GREAT    TEMPLE    OF    BORO-BOEDOR        173 

with  it,  gave  the  walls  an  unfinished  appearance  not  in 
keeping  with  the  rest  of  the  massive  structure.  It 
looked  as  if  it  had  been  shaken  by  earthquakes  which, 
with  the  great  lapse  of  time  since  its  construction, 
had  brought  it  to  a  dilapidated  condition.  The  hill, 
which  is  ascended  by  a  road  to  the  north  of  the 
temple,  is  rather  steep  and  not  in  very  good  condi- 
tion; but  after  some  hard  pulling  the  ponies  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  top  and  we  drove  to  the  Pas- 
angrahan,  a  little  hotel  that  stands  opposite  to  and 
not  far  from  the  temple,  owned  and  run  by  the 
government. 

The  manager  of  the  Pasangrahan  came  to  the 
steps  of  the  broad  piazza  to  meet  us,  gorgeously  at- 
tired in  new  pajamas  made  from  sarongs  which  were 
brilliant  with  great  brown,  yellow  and  red  roses,  his 
bare  feet  thrust  into  a  pair  of  toe  slippers  that  made 
a  clapping  sound  as  he  walked,  his  sleeves  rolled  up 
to  the  elbows.  When  he  addressed  me  I  actually  did 
not  know  whether  he  blushed  or  whether  his  color 
was  a  reflection  of  his  pajamas;  at  any  rate  he 
seemed  embarrassed,  and  I  wondered  what  could  be 
the  cause.  The  reason  was  soon  evident,  however, 
for  he  suddenly  vanished,  to  reappear  later  in  a  suit 
of  white  duck,  and  such  a  wonderful  metamorphosis 
had  taken  place  I  did  not  recognize  him,  for  I 
thought  a  new  guest  had  arrived,  much  to  the  amuse- 
ment of  the  young  manager. 

I  had  begun  to  think  that  blushing  and  embar- 


174      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

rassment  were  not  characteristics  of  the  Dutch  men 
and  women  of  Java,  the  land  of  pajamas  and 
sarongs,  for  both  the  men  and  the  women  appear  in 
this  dishabille  attire  on  the  hotel  piazzas  and  at  the 
noonday  rice-table  luncheon.  One  never  expects  to 
see  any  of  these  people  blushing  and  embarrassed; 
bare  feet  and  bare  ankles  are  of  too  common  occur- 
rence to  cause  even  a  remark,  and  turning  down  the 
upper  part  of  the  garment  at  the  neck  and  rolling  up 
the  sleeves  are  only  in  keeping  with  the  abbreviation 
of  the  lower  part  of  the  costume.  The  ladies  select 
their  sarongs  with  as  much  care  and  take  as  much 
pride  in  their  fineness  and  colorings  as  the  ladies  in 
other  countries  do  in  choosing  their  Parisian  gowns; 
and  doubtless  the  men  are  just  as  particular  about 
their  pajamas  made  from  sarongs.  The  Hotel 
Bellevue  at  Buitenzorg  was  the  only  place  in  the 
whole  length  and  breadth  of  Java  where  I  heard  any 
objection  to  this  style  of  dress  or  undress;  and  the 
regulations  found  in  each  room  contained  the  re- 
quest, printed  at  the  bottom  in  large  black  letters, 
that  the  guests  would  please  dress  themselves  for  the 
nine  o'clock  table  d'hote  dinner. 

An  hour  after  my  arrival  at  the  Pasangrahan  the 
rice-table  luncheon  was  served,  and  I  could  not  de- 
termine whether  the  fact  that  it  was  the  first  time 
the  rice-table  luncheon  had  tasted  really  delicious  to 
me  was  due  to  my  coffee  breakfast  and  long  ride  or 
to  the  superior  excellence  of  the  Pasangrahan  method 


GREAT    TEMPLE    OF    BORO-BOEDOR        175 

of  preparing  it.  Not  long  after  the  luncheon  was 
over  all  the  people  around  the  hotel,  both  foreigners 
and  natives,  disappeared  to  take  their  afternoon 
siestas,  and  I  was  told  it  would  be  out  of  the  question 
to  think  of  going  to  the  top  of  the  temple  until  after 
three  o'clock,  for  the  hot  sun  might  cause  sunstroke 
or  fever.  So  I  contented  myself  with  a  view  from 
the  hotel  piazza,  from  which  two  sides  of  the  temple 
are  distinctly  visible  and  give  one  a  good  idea  of  its 
size,  and  it  was  soon  so  still  not  a  sound  was  to  be 
heard;  not  so  much  as  a  leaf  stirred  on  the  trees. 
The  stillness  became  really  oppressive.  Even  Nir- 
vana, the  Buddhist  heaven,  the  land  of  Eternal  Sleep, 
could  not  be  more  still  and  deathlike,  and  the  two 
hours  I  sat  there  seemed  an  age. 

The  first  thing  that  broke  the  stillness  was  the 
sound  of  the  natives  pounding  the  hulls  of  the  rice 
with  a  wooden  pestle  attached  to  a  lever  and  worked 
with  the  feet,  another  of  the  time  honored  inventions 
that  date  back  as  far  as  the  plow,  which  is  nothing 
more  than  a  common  shovel  fastened  to  a  crooked 
stick.  One  by  one  the  people  around  the  hotel  made 
their  appearance,  and  at  last  a  native  guide  came  to 
show  me  over  the  temple.  In  the  meantime  I  had 
been  reading  a  small  pamphlet  which  I  had  pur- 
chased at  the  Pasangrahan,  entitled  "  Tyandi  Boro- 
Boedor,"  a  work  recently  published  as  a  guide  to  the 
temple  and  written  by  Dr.  J.  Groneman,  Honorary 
President  of  the  Archa3ological  Society  of  Djokjar 


176      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

I  quote  one  of  the  paragraphs  which  describes  the 
temple  almost  precisely  as  it  now  appears,  for 
although  it  has  been  greatly  damaged  from  various 
causes,  it  still  rises  majestically  above  them  all  and 
has  the  same  overpowering  effect  upon  us:  "Up- 
wards of  1000  years  have  rolled  over  the  Barabudur, 
the  Great  Buddha;  earthquakes  and  ash  showers  have 
disjointed  its  walls,  heavy  rainfalls  and  rank  vegeta- 
tion have  disintegrated  its  foundation,  and  short- 
sighted slaves  of  imbecility  or  fanaticism  have 
defaced  its  works  of  art,  but  still  the  ruin  stands 
there,  an  imposing  fact,  a  powerful  creation  of  the 
thinking  mind,  an  epic  in  stone,  immortal  in  its 
decadence." 

Barabudur  is  a  solid  pyramid  and  rises  in  five 
splendidly  sculptured  terraces  which  are  its  crowning 
glory.  At  every  turn  around  this  great  pyramid  one 
feels  more  inclined  to  believe  it  was  an  inspiration 
from  Buddha  himself  as  a  masterpiece  to  his  mem- 
ory, for  it  seems  almost  beyond  the  human  mind  to 
have  planned  and  executed  such  a  piece  of  work. 

Very  little  was  known  about  the  ancient  ruins  in 
Java  until  1811,  when,  after  Napoleon's  defeat,  the 
English  took  possession  of  the  island.  Holland  at 
that  time  belonged  to  the  French  and  her  posses- 
sions in  the  East  Indies  were  ceded  to  the  English. 
The  Dutch  had  been  in  possession  of  the  island  for 
two  centuries  at  that  time,  but  they  only  knew  of  the 
ruins  of  Brambanan,  which  were  accidentally  dis- 


Sculptures  on  the  Galleries  of  Boro-Boedor 


GREAT    TEMPLE    OF    BORO-BOEDOR       177 

covered  by  a  Dutch  engineer  in  1797  when  he  was 
constructing  a  fortification  near  them.  The  Dutch 
were  too  much  occupied  with  their  commercial  pur- 
suits and  money-making  schemes  to  be  interested  in 
the  ancient  ruins  of  Java,  and  they  knew  nothing 
about  the  people  prior  to  the  Mohammedan  conquest. 
During  the  time  the  English  occupied  Java,  from 
1811  to  1816,  there  was  a  complete  revolution  of  the 
government  under  their  Governor,  Sir  Stamford 
Raffles.  He  had  the  island  explored  and  the  ruined 
temples  cleared  of  the  rank  vegetation  that  had  cov- 
ered them  for  ages,  and  the  inscriptions  and  data 
uncovered  at  that  time  enabled  the  explorers  to  de- 
termine the  period  of  their  building  as  the  seventh, 
eighth  and  ninth  centuries. 

It  was  during  these  explorations  that  Boro-Boedor 
was  discovered  in  a  thick,  tropical  jungle  which  had 
covered  it  for  more  than  six  centuries,  and  it  took  the 
English  surveyors  over  a  month  and  a  half,  with  the 
assistance  of  a  small  army  of  coolies,  to  clear  the 
temple  of  its  tropical  covering  and  to  excavate  below 
the  terrace,  where  they  found  two  other  terraces 
buried  out  of  sight,  and  replaced  the  earth,  fearing 
the  temple  might  collapse. 

After  the  Dutch  again  came  into  possession  of 
Java  their  archaeologists  made  a  thorough  study  of 
the  temple  and  further  excavations  were  made.  It 
was  discovered  that  the  broad  terrace  around  the  base 
was  of  much  more  recent  date  than  the  inner  portion 


178      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

of  the  temple,  and  that  it  was  doubtless  constructed 
by  the  last  worshipers  of  Buddha  in  Java  as  a  sup- 
port to  the  massive  structure. 

The  road  leading  from  the  top  of  the  hill  to  the 
temple  was  the  one  used  by  the  pilgrims,  on  either 
side  of  which  lie  the  crumbling  pedestals  where 
Buddhas  once  looked  down  serenely  on  the  passers- 
by;  but  these  have  all  disappeared.  There  are  a 
number  of  lions  lying  around  on  the  grass  and  sitting 
near  the  temple,  and  they  are  sufficiently  ugly  to  give 
one  a  cold  chill  even  in  the  hot,  stuffy  climate  of 
temple  hill. 

Boro-Boedor  is  situated  in  the  district  of  Boro  and 
the  province  of  Kedu.  No  dates  or  inscriptions 
were  found  on  the  temple  which  would  lead  to  the 
discovery  of  the  time  it  was  built,  but  by  inscriptions 
found  elsewhere  it  was  determined  that  its  construc- 
tion dates  back  to  the  eighth  or  ninth  century.  The 
temple  covers  three  acres  of  ground,  and  the  interior 
is  filled  in  with  earth.  Its  original  height  was  120 
feet,  but  twenty  feet  of  the  spire  or  central  dome  has 
fallen  off.  In  shape  it  is  a  terraced  pyramid,  which 
rises  first  in  a  square  terrace  that  forms  its  base,  then 
five  square  terraced  galleries  and  above  these  three 
circular  terraces  around  the  top.  In  the  center  is  a 
cupola  that  rises  above  them  all. 

One  ascends  the  first  terrace  by  some  dilapidated 
stone  steps  at  one  end  of  the  temple,  but  these  were 
built  after  the  originals  had  disappeared,  as  formerly 


GREAT    TEMPLE    OF    BORO-BOEDOR        179 

each  of  the  four  sides  had  steps  that  corresponded 
with  each  of  the  four  stairways  ascending  to  the  top. 
In  the  center  of  each  of  the  four  sides  of  the  galleries 
these  stairways  pass  under  finely  sculptured  pointed 
arches,  and  all  of  these  five  galleries  are  sculptured 
on  either  side  in  bas  relief,  of  which  there  were  once 
more  than  2000  sections,  though  now  more  than  one- 
third  have  crumbled  and  disappeared.  The  inner 
walls  are  much  more  elaborately  sculptured  than  the 
outer,  and  around  each  of  the  galleries  are  balus- 
trades containing  niches  or  temples,  in  which  life- 
sized  Buddhas,  with  disks  around  their  heads,  are 
seated  on  lotus  cushions. 

The  three  circular  terraces  around  the  top  have 
openwork  dagobas,  shaped  like  a  bell,  but  only  a  few 
of  these  are  perfect,  for  many  of  them  have  lost  their 
tops,  others  have  been  shoved  from  their  foundations 
by  earthquakes,  and  still  more  are  broken  and 
crumbling.  Each  of  these  seventy-two  dagobas 
around  the  top  once  contained  a  Buddha  seated 
cross-legged  on  a  lotus  cushion.  These  figures  have 
no  aureole  around  their  heads  but  all  are  seated 
facing  the  great  central  dagoba,  the  grand  finale  of 
the  whole.  The  purpose  for  which  this  great  cen- 
tral dagoba  was  built  has  never  been  fully  deter- 
mined; but  it  is  generally  supposed  that  this,  to- 
gether with  the  open-work  bell-shaped  dagobas  in  the 
three  circular  terraces  around  the  top,  was  built  over 
some  of  the  sacred  ashes  of  Buddha. 


180      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

According  to  the  account  of  Buddha's  death  his 
remains  were  buried  in  eight  different  towns. 
"  King  Asoka,  264  years  B.  C.,  caused  seven  of  these 
tombs  to  be  opened  and  80,000  parts  of  the  ashes  to 
be  preserved  in  vases  in  order  to  have  them  distrib- 
uted over  the  kingdom  and  the  surrounding  coun- 
try." It  is  thought  that  the  Buddhists  brought 
some  of  these  ashes  to  Java  and  covered  them  with 
the  dagobas,  building  the  temple  around  them,  as 
the  style  of  the  architecture  shows  that  the  builders 
of  Boro-Boedor  were  Hindus. 

The  central  dagoba  is  fifty  feet  in  diameter  and 
was  originally  walled  in.  The  English  opened  it  but 
found  nothing  besides  a  deep  hole  and  an  unfinished 
Buddha  resting  on  a  pedestal.  The  hole  is  now 
filled  in  with  earth  and  fallen  stone  and  nothing  but 
the  head  of  the  Buddha  appears  above  the  chaotic 
mass. 

It  is  the  general  belief  of  those  who  have  examined 
the  sculptured  galleries  that  they  represent  some  part 
in  the  life  and  worship  of  Buddha  and  his  disciples, 
and  naturally  it  took  a  large  number  of  these  sculp- 
tured pictures  to  portray  the  subject.  For  ninety 
years  archaeologists  have  been  working  almost  con- 
stantly in  deciphering  the  sculptures  on  the  walls  of 
the  five  galleries,  but  only  a  few  of  the  vast  number 
have  been  satisfactorily  worked  out. 

One  never  tires  of  wandering  around  these  gal- 
leries, for  the  richness  and  infinite  variety  of  the 


A  Buddha  from  Boro-Boedor 


GREAT    TEMPLE    OF   BORO-BOEDOR       181 

sculptures  keep  one  constantly  interested.  It  is  not 
until  the  shadows  begin  to  lengthen  and  you  know  it 
is  time  to  hasten  to  Buddha's  Nirvana  at  the  top  to 
see  the  sun  set,  that  you  take  your  last  glimpse  and 
promise  yourself  another  view  of  the  sculptures 
when  you  again  visit  the  top  to  see  the  sun  rise  at  the 
first  dawn  of  day.  By  some  rough  stone  steps  you 
ascend  the  central  dome  of  the  cone,  which  formerly 
surrounded  this  dagoba,  though  nothing  is  now  left 
of  it  but  a  part  of  the  pedestal,  ten  feet  broad.  I 
found  it  difficult  to  stand  there,  for  the  wind  was 
blowing  very  hard  and  I  felt  as  though  I  might  sud- 
denly be  dashed  to  the  broken  stones  below  and  run 
the  chance  of  joining  Buddha  in  Nirvana.  One 
soon  forgets  the  danger,  however,  as  the  great  pano- 
rama unfolds  itself,  for  it  seems  as  if  this  must  be 
Buddha's  chosen  spot,  and  nothing  but  paradise 
could  be  more  lovely. 

As  soon  as  the  sun  had  set  we  left  the  temple,  and 
I  saw  on  the  way  wrhat  looked  to  be  a  monkey 
walking  up  a  tall  cocoanut  tree.  Both  the  South 
Sea  Islanders  and  the  Javanese  have  a  way  of  climb- 
ing trees  which  is  more  like  walking  up  them  than 
climbing,  and  they  can  walk  up  a  tree  fifty  or  sixty 
feet  in  height  with  the  ease  and  grace  of  a  monkey. 
On  close  inspection  the  figure  proved  to  be  a  little 
naked  native  boj7",  carrying  some  small  pails  made 
from  the  bamboo  tree  to  catch  the  sap  from  the  cocoa- 
nut  tree,  which  the  natives  make  into  a  delicious  su- 


182      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

gar.  I  had  seen  in  the  "  passer  "  at  Garoet  a  simi- 
lar sugar  made  from  the  date-palm,  though  much 
inferior  in  quality,  but  it  is  only  in  central  Java  the 
sugar  yielding  cocoanut  trees  are  to  be  found. 
These  trees  bear  tapping  for  five  years  before  the 
process  kills  them. 

It  was  dark  when  I  returned  to  the  hotel,  for 
there  is  no  twilight  at  the  equator  and  when  the  sun 
has  gone  down  it  is  pitch  dark.  The  piazza  was 
lighted  with  a  large  kerosene  lamp.  In  more  pre- 
tentious hotels  one  of  these  lamps  hangs  before  the 
door  of  each  guest  chamber,  and  usually  there  are  a 
writing  table  and  rocking  chairs  for  yourself  and 
friends.  One  would  naturally  conclude  that  such  a 
locality  would  be  a  delightful  place  to  spend  a  warm 
evening  in  the  tropics,  but  this  is  not  so,  for  these 
lamps  are  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  beacon  to 
allure  all  the  insects  in  the  neighborhood  which  come 
thrashing  in  droves  against  one's  face,  the  tables  and 
the  walls,  and  the  whole  piazza  is  soon  a  mass  of 
crawling,  creeping  things.  To  add  to  the  discom- 
fort numerous  little  lizards  scamper  along  the  walls 
and  floors  after  these  insects,  until  you  simply  flee  to 
your  room  and  shut  the  door,  almost  afraid  to  light 
the  night  lamp,  which  consists  of  a  little  wick  that 
floats  in  a  cup  of  cocoanut  oil  on  a  little  cork  at  one 
end,  for  fear  your  room  will  be  filled  with  insects. 

The  evening  being  warm  and  sultry,  I  went  out  to 
sit  on  the  steps  of  the  old  ruin  and  see  the  moon  rise, 


GREAT    TEMPLE    OF    BORO-BOEDOR        183 

gilding  the  splendid  old  pile  from  its  topmost  dome 
to  its  lowest  terrace  with  a  beautiful  silvery  sheen 
that  fell  on  the  faces  of  the  enshrined  Buddhas,  mak- 
ing them  look  so  ghastly  one  is  almost  afraid  they 
will  rise  from  their  lotus  thrones  and  come  down  the 
great  processionals  of  the  terraced  galleries.  Long 
I  sat  there  enjoying  the  lovely  scene  and  letting  my 
thoughts  wander  at  their  own  free  will.  At  first 
there  was  not  a  sound  to  break  the  stillness  of  the 
night  beyond  the  rustling  of  the  leaves  on  the  great 
canary  trees  that  grew  on  either  side  of  the  broad 
avenue  leading  up  to  the  temple;  but  after  a  while 
there  came  a  sound  such  as  I  had  never  heard  before, 
and  one  that  seemed  weird  and  uncanny  enough  to 
have  come  from  the  great  Buddha  himself  in  the 
land  of  Nirvana.  It  was  the  cry  of  the  gecko,  a 
hoarse,  guttural  noise  that  sounds  like  "  Be-gone,  be- 
gone, be -gone  " ;  and  I  thought  it  was  time  for  me  to 
get  beyond  hearing  of  this  horrid  thing,  bird  or  rep- 
tile, I  knew  not  which.  It  may  live  in  other  parts 
of  Java,  but  the  only  place  I  heard  it  was  on  Temple 
Hill. 


CHAPTER  SIXTEEN 

JAVA   AND    THE    DUTCH 

miles  from  Boro-Boedor  is  Chandi  Mendoet, 
a  temple  supposed  to  have  been  built  about  800 
A.  D.  One  of  the  many  noteworthy  things  that  Sir 
Stamford  Raffles  did,  during  his  short  stay  in  Java, 
was  to  write  the  first  history  of  the  country,  but  no 
mention  is  made  of  this  temple,  for  it  was  not  discov- 
ered until  seventy-nine  years  after  Boro-Boedor.  In 
one  of  the  chapels  of  this  temple  sits  a  colossal  Buddha 
with  a  large  state  umbrella,  or  pajong,  over  his  head, 
and  on  either  side  of  the  Buddha  stand  colossal 
figures  finely  sculptured.  In  the  back  part  of  the 
temple  the  walls  are  splendidly  decorated,  and  along 
the  terraced  pathway  are  some  sculptures  in  bas 
relief  exceedingly  well  executed. 

Returning  to  Djokja  I  went  to  the  Hotel  Toegoe, 
and  when  I  registered  at  the  office  the  hotelkeeper 
said  "You  are  from  America."  He  said  that  he 
too  was  an  American,  but  that  he  was  born  in  Ger- 
many and  had  gone  to  South  America  when  a  boy, 
being  a  naturalized  citizen  of  the  Argentine  Repub- 
lic ;  but  in  one  of  the  rebellions  he  had  taken  up  arms 
against  the  President  and  had  been  banished  from 
the  country  forever.  Coming  to  Java  he  had  mar- 


184 


JAVA    AND    THE    DUTCH  185 

ried  a  Dutch  woman,  a  misstep  he  greatly  regretted, 
for  he  had  been  very  prosperous  in  South  America 
and  had  not  met  with  much  success  in  Java. 

Nowhere  in  Java  was  my  stay  so  enjoyable  as  at 
this  Hotel  Toegoe.  It  is  built  in  a  large  yard,  with 
a  very  wide  piazza  extending  far  back  under  the 
upper  story,  which,  with  the  magnificent  large  canary 
trees,  makes  it  very  shady;  there  was  always  a  cool 
spot  somewhere  on  this  piazza.  The  manager  of  the 
hotel,  a  Mr.  Westhoff,  was  broad-minded  and  very 
progressive,  due  probably  to  the  fact  that  he  had 
spent  much  of  his  life  in  America.  '  He  seemed 
much  interested  in  travel  and  in  travelers,  and  told 
me  many  stories  about  the  "  globe  trotters  "  who  had 
been  guests  at  the  hotel.  "  But,"  he  added,  "  you 
are  the  first  lady  globe  trotter  I  ever  saw  who  trav- 
eled alone." 

He  asked  me  many  questions  about  my  trips 
around  the  world,  but  most  of  all  about  my  journey 
over  the  Great  Siberian  Railway,  for  this  was  the 
newest  route  around  the  world,  and  as  the  railroad 
was  hardly  completed  at  the  time,  but  few  people 
had  made  the  journey.  He  was  greatly  impressed 
with  the  magnitude  of  that  undertaking  and  said  that 
probably  nothing  in  the  history  of  the  world  had  ever 
equaled  it. 

He  asked  me  if  I  did  not  feel  nervous  in  cross- 
ing Russia  and  Siberia,  and  remarked  that  he  should 
think  it  would  be  the  last  trip  a  woman  would  con- 


186      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

template  taking  alone,  especially  one  not  acquainted 
with  the  language  nor  the  manners  and  customs  of 
the  people.  I  told  him  there  had  been  but  few  dis- 
agreeable experiences  in  the  whole  six  thousand  miles 
of  travel,  and  that  I  had  found  it  a  very  pleasing  ex- 
perience. He  spoke  as  if  every  part  of  him  was  alive, 
and  his  manner  was  so  characteristically  American  I 
enjoyed  it,  for  it  was  in  strong  contrast  with  the  slow 
manner  of  the  Dutch,  who  talk  as  if  they  had  just 
wakened  from  a  Rip  Van  Winkle  sleep. 

"  You  must  have  a  notice  in  our  leading  Djokja 
paper,"  he  said,  but  the  paper  had  such  a  long  unpro- 
nounceable name  I  will  not  attempt  to  give  it. 
"  Oh,"  said  I,  "  do  you  think  that  a  Dutch  newspaper 
in  Java  would  condescend  to  notice  a  woman  '  globe 
trotter '  from  America?  " 

"  Yes,  they  will,"  he  replied,  "  and  I  will  write  the 
article  myself,  for  none  of  the  editors  speak 
English." 

Seating  himself  at  one  of  the  tables  on  the  piazza 
he  wrote  an  account  of  my  arrival  in  Djokja  and  my 
journeyings  over  the  world,  which  he  handed  to  the 
editor  of  the  paper  with  the  long  name,  who  ex- 
pressed himself  as  quite  pleased  to  accept  it.  This 
was  all  quite  different  from  my  experiences  in  other 
parts  of  Java,  for  most  of  the  Dutch  people  I  had 
met  were  overbearing,  narrow-minded  and  not  at  all 
inclined  to  be  courteous  to  strangers,  and  it  is  due  to 
the  treatment  travelers  have  received  there  that  the 


JAVA    AND    THE    DUTCH  187 

impression  has  gone  forth  that  Java  is  a  hard  coun- 
try to  travel  in  and  that  the  Dutch  do  not  care  for 
foreigners. 

The  weather  at  Djokja  was  somewhat  warmer  than 
at  Batavia,  but  it  did  not  seem  so  warm  for  the  air 
was  more  invigorating,  though,  as  in  Batavia,  not  a 
drop  of  rain  had  fallen  for  seven  months  and  a  half. 
Java  has  the  same  temperature  the  year  around, 
the  wet  and  dry  seasons  being  the  only  variation. 
These  changes  are  caused  by  the  different  directions 
of  the  wind  called  "monsoons."  The  dry  season  is 
from  April  to  October,  and  during  this  time  the  mon- 
soon blows  from  the  southeast.  From  October  to 
April  is  the  wet  season,  and  the  monsoon  blows  then 
from  the  southwest.  The  dry  season  is  the  more  en- 
joyable, for  the  days  are  hot  and  dry  and  the  nights 
are  cool;  but  during  the  wet  season  the  heaviest 
rainfalls  are  often  at  night,  making  the  night  air 
very  hot  and  stuffy,  while  the  days  are  hot  and 
steamy. 

One  of  my  first  questions  on  arriving  at  Djokja 
was  whether  the  cholera  had  broken  out  on  account 
of  the  long-continued  drought,  and  I  was  informed 
that  the  drought  was  only  detrimental  to  crops  in 
this  locality,  for  Djokja  is  one  of  the  healthiest  cities 
in  Java. 

This  city  was  the  capital  of  the  first  Hindu  em- 
pire, and  it  was  the  princes  of  this  empire  who  built 
the  many  temples  situated  near  Djokjakarta;  but 


188      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

when  Hinduism  became  more  powerful  in  Java  it 
was  divided  into  two  empires;  the  eastern,  of  which 
Majapahit  was  the  capital,  situated  near  what  is  now 
Soerabaya,  and  the  western,  of  which  Pajajaran  was 
the  capital,  situated  near  Batavia,  the  new  capital 
founded  by  the  Dutch.  The  Dutch  East  India 
Company  came  to  Java  after  the  Mohammedan  con- 
quest and  when  the  country  was  ruled  over  by  the 
Sultan  or  Susunhan,  afterward  called  the  Emperor, 
who  lived  in  great  splendor  in  the  kingdom  of 
Mataram  in  Central  Java,  the  Hindu  empire  of 
Majapahit. 

The  native  princes  disliked  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company  as  much  as  they  had  disliked  the  Mo- 
hammedans, and  they  rose  in  rebellion  against  them 
both,  fighting  with  such  bravery  it  often  took  the 
combined  force  of  both  to  put  down  these  rebel- 
lions. 

So,  when  the  Mohammedan  prince  tried  to  drive 
the  Dutch  East  India  Company  out  of  Java,  it 
was  not  long  before  the  native  princes  rose  against 
him,  and  finding  he  had  two  enemies  to  fight,  he 
made  terms  with  the  Dutch  East  India  Company 
and  sought  their  assistance  in  his  wars  against  the 
native  princes.  For  their  assistance  in  these  wars  the 
Dutch  received  many  grants  and  privileges ;  and,  after 
these  wars  and  rebellions  had  been  going  on  for  a 
considerable  length  of  time,  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company  gained  such  power  over  the  Mohammedan 


JAVA    AND    THE    DUTCH  189 

prince  of  the  kingdom  of  Mataram,  that  in  1743  he 
was  forced  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Dutch 
East  India  Company  and  give  them  the  whole  of  the 
north  coast  of  Java. 

On  the  death  of  this  prince,  six  years  later,  he 
bequeathed  to  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  the 
whole  of  his  kingdom,  at  the  time  in  a  state  of  rebel- 
lion provoked  by  his  brother  who  had  joined  the 
native  princes,  and  it  was  not  until  after  a  protracted 
war  that  this  brother  was  induced  to  lay  down  his 
arms  on  the  promise  of  half  the  kingdom  of 
Mataram.  He  received  the  western  portion  and  the 
title  of  Sultan  of  Djokja,  but  it  was  not  long  before 
the  princes  of  the  divided  kingdom  went  to  war  with 
each  other  and  the  Dutch  were  again  compelled  to 
take  a  hand  and  settle  the  difficulty,  for  which  they 
received  more  grants  and  privileges. 

The  last  war  of  the  Dutch  with  Djokja  was  in 
1825  and  lasted  thirteen  years.  It  was  the  most 
severe  of  all  the  Dutch  wars  in  Central  Java,  and 
required  all  the  force  they  could  muster  for  five  years 
to  prevent  defeat.  At  its  close  the  princes  of  Central 
Java  lost  most  of  their  kingdom  and  became  mere 
pensioners  of  the  Dutch  government,  and  they  have 
never  been  able  since  to  regain  their  lost  power.  The 
Sultan  of  Djokja  and  the  Susunhan  of  Soera-karta 
are  mere  figureheads  and  have  no  say  whatever  in  the 
government  of  Java.  They  receive  an  annual  in- 
come from  the  government  and  pay  taxes  on  that 


190      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

part  of  their  kingdom  which  remains  to  them,  though 
they  still  try  to  retain  their  regal  splendor  in  the 
small  enclosures  in  which  they  live. 

Djokja  was  somewhat  disappointing,  for  there  was 
nothing  ancient  about  it,  nor  are  there  any  ancient 
ruins  in  it.  Modern  Djokja,  however,  is  a  lovely 
place,  with  wide  clean  streets  so  delightfully  shaded 
that  you  can  ride  all  over  it  without  an  umbrella  to 
protect  you  from  the  sun,  and  the  dwellings  of  the 
foreign  residents,  like  those  of  all  the  modern  cities  in 
Java,  are  surrounded  with  large  tropical  trees  and 
plants  that  almost  hide  them  from  view.  One  of  my 
first  visits  was  to  the  "  passer,"  for  "  passers  "  must 
be  visited  early  in  the  morning  to  see  them  at  their 
best.  It  was  quite  extensive  and  thronged  with 
native  buyers  and  sellers  of  the  various  commodities 
to  be  found  in  the  well-filled  stalls. 

Of  the  twenty-two  provinces  and  residences  into 
which  Java  and  the  neighboring  island  of  Madura 
are  divided,  Djokja  is  the  capital  of  one  of  the  most 
important.  The  Resident,  or  Governor,  resides  here 
in  an  imposing  white  mansion  with  large  Doric 
columns  in  the  front,  and  spacious  grounds,  laid  out 
with  much  care  and  taste,  contain  many  rare  plants 
and  trees  from  different  parts  of  the  world.  Its 
beauty,  however,  is  somewhat  marred  by  the  several 
hundred  Hindu  gods  which  have  been  brought  from 
the  neighboring  temples  and  set  up  in  rows  in  the 
yard  for  strangers  to  gaze  upon  and  wonder  at,  giv- 


JAVA    AND    THE    DUTCH  191 

ing  it  the  appearance  of  a  very  ancient  and  over- 
crowded cemetery. 

The  Sultan  of  Djokja's  palace  is  near  the  center 
of  the  city,  but  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  obtain  a  glimpse 
of  it,  for  it  is  built  within  a  fort  or  enclosure,  called 
a  Kraton,  which  is  surrounded  by  a  high  stone  wall 
four  miles  in  circumference.  This  enclosure  is 
divided  similarly  to  a  city  and  has  a  population  of 
over  15,000  inhabitants,  all  of  whom  are  attached  to 
the  Sultan's  court  in  one  way  or  another,  and  it  is 
only  by  permit  from  the  Resident  that  entrance  may 
be  had  to  the  Kraton.  Although  the  Resident  ad- 
dresses the  Prince  as  "  Toean  Sultan,"  he  does  not 
allow  him  outside  the  Kraton  without  a  permit,  and 
he  fully  investigates  the  nature  of  his  business  before 
granting  it.  A  company  of  native  soldiers  or 
dragoons  with  a  Dutch  captain  act  as  a  guard  for  the 
Sultan,  and  when  the  state  processions  take  place 
Djokja  presents  a  gala  appearance  for  the  people 
come  from  far  and  near  to  see  a  display  which  few 
oriental  nations  can  surpass  in  magnificence  and 
splendor.  No  one  would  ever  surmise  that  the  pres- 
ent Sultan  is  but  a  mere  pensioner  of  the  govern- 
ment; on  the  contrary,  one  would  suppose  him  the 
real  ruler  with  the  wealth  of  a  nation  at  his  disposal. 

The  carrying  of  pa  Jongs,  or  state  umbrellas,  as  a 
mark  of  distinction  came  from  India,  and  anyone 
who  is  acquainted  with  the  significance  of  the  differ- 
ent colors  knows  at  a  glance  the  rank  of  the  person 


192      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

over  whom  the  pajong  is  carried.  One  of  the  most 
notable  features  of  the  state  processions  is  the  great 
number  of  these  pajongs,  there  being  no  less  than 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  that  belong  to  the  court  of  the 
Sultan.  The  pajong  of  the  Sultan  is  golden,  the 
Queen's  is  yellow  and  the  Crown  Prince's  is  white 
with  a  golden  border.  Another  noticeable  feature 
of  the  state  procession  is  the  great  number  of  beetle 
boxes  and  fan  bearers.  The  ballet  forms  the  amuse- 
ment of  the  court,  and  every  prince,  from  the  high- 
est to  the  lowest,  has  his  own  dancers  and  musicians. 

The  temples  of  Brambanan,  supposed  to  have  been 
built  in  the  llth  century  are,  next  to  Boro-Boedor, 
the  finest  in  Java.  These  temples  are  situated  mid- 
way between  the  ancient  capitals  of  Djokja-karta 
and  Soera-karta,  and  by  taking  the  early  morning 
train  we  found  there  would  be  ample  time  to  visit 
them  and  then  proceed  by  a  later  train  to  Soera-karta 
or  Solo,  the  abbreviation  by  which  it  is  usually  called. 

Arriving  at  the  small  country  station  of  Bram- 
banan we  learned  that  the  temples  had  been  passed 
a  mile  back,  and  that  there  was  no  way  of  reaching 
them  but  by  walking  through  the  burning  hot  sun 
and  dust  half  a  foot  deep,  over  a  rough  country  road 
that  was  minus  shade  trees.  The  situation  was  not 
at  all  pleasant,  but  we  had  only  one  alternative,  to 
wait  in  the  little  hot  station  five  hours  for  the  next 
train  to  Solo,  or  to  walk  to  the  temples;  so  we  con- 
cluded to  run  the  risk  of  sunstroke  and  of  being 


The  Temples  of  Brambanan 


Sculptures  on  the  Temples  of  Brambanan 


JAVA    AND    THE    DUTCH  193 

choked  to  death  with  dust,  and  proceeded  on  our  jour- 
ney down  the  road  with  some  natives  in  the  lead,  who 
assured  us,  by  waving  their  hands  in  the  direction  of 
the  temples,  that  they  knew  where  we  wanted  to  go. 

After  walking  for  fifteen  minutes  we  came  to  a 
turn  in  the  road  that  led  over  the  bridge  across  the 
Opak  river,  the  temples  being  on  the  side  opposite 
the  railroad  station,  and  a  short  way  farther  on  we 
came  to  a  large  grove  and  a  native  village  where  we 
shook  the  dust  from  our  clothing,  wiped  the  perspira- 
tion from  our  faces  and  sat  down  to  rest  under  the 
tall  palms  and  canary  trees.  The  natives  flocked 
around  us  and  stared  curiously  at  us  with  their  great 
black  eyes,  but  they  were  quiet  and  gentle  in  man- 
ner; nor  did  we  hear  a  loud  discordant  voice  even  on 
the  crowded  streets  of  that  little  village.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  all  the  native  villages  we  visited  in  Java  were 
just  as  orderly  as  this  one.  Even  when  the 
"  passers  "  were  in  progress  and  the  streets  were  so 
crowded  it  was  almost  impossible  to  pass  among  the 
people,  there  was  no  righting  nor  wrangling  so  char- 
acteristic of  the  native  people  of  many  oriental  coun- 
tries, especially  the  Mohammedan.  The  Javanese 
are  no  more  cleanly  in  their  habits  than  any  other 
orientals,  but  they  are  more  gentle  and  law  abiding 
and  they  favorably  impress  strangers,  who  soon  have 
a  kindly  feeling  for  "  the  little  people  of  Java  "  as 
they  call  themselves. 

Feeling  quite  rested  we  proceeded  on  our  journey 


194.     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND   THE   WORLD 

and  walked  through  the  grove  until  we  came  to  a 
short  turn  in  the  road,  which  led  to  the  entrance  of 
the  wall  encircling  the  splendid  temple  group  known 
as  the  temples  of  Loro  Jonggran,  so  named  for  the 
beautiful  Hindu  goddess  who  is  worshiped  in  India 
under  the  name  of  Durga  and  Parvati.  These 
temples  resemble  the  Hindu  temples  of  Southern 
India,  and  like  them  they  are  pyramidal  in  shape. 
Eight  large  temples,  built  in  rows  of  three  facing 
each  other  with  two  between,  compose  the  group, 
which  was  originally  surrounded  with  three  circular 
walls  with  small  temples  between  the  second  and 
third.  With  these  small  temples  there  were  165  in 
all. 

Both  the  outer  walls  and  all  the  small  temples  are 
now  gone,  and  nothing  but  the  inner  walls  rise  above 
the  ground.  Five  of  the  eight  temples  are  in  a 
broken  and  dilapidated  condition,  two  are  only  trace- 
able by  their  foundations,  and  it  is  only  the  three 
which  form  the  west  group  that  are  in  a  fairly  good 
state  of  preservation,  or  at  least,  sufficiently  so  to 
give  one  a  good  idea  of  how  imposing  the  group  must 
have  been  before  earthquakes  wrought  such  havoc 
among  them. 

In  the  inner  temple  of  the  western  group  was  the 
principal  one  which  contained  four  rooms.  In  the 
west  room  is  the  ugly  and  repulsive  elephant  god, 
Ganesha,  in  the  south  room  are  the  images  of  Siva 
and  Parvati,  while  in  the  north  room  is  the  magnifi- 


JAVA    AND    THE    DUTCH  195 

cent  image  of  the  four-armed  goddess  Loro-Jong- 
gran,  after  which  the  temples  are  named.  In  the 
south  temple  of  this  group  is  a  broken  Brahmin  with 
some  smaller  ones  lying  on  the  floor. 

In  the  north  temple,  which  is  exactly  like  the  south, 
was  a  Vishnu,  seated  between  two  gods,  and  piled  in 
heaps  were  heads,  arms,  legs  and  parts  of  bas  relief 
that  had  been  broken  from  the  outside  decorations, 
for  these  temples  were  covered  from  top  to  bottom 
with  bas  relief  and  life-sized  figures.  None  of  these 
bas  reliefs  are  perfect,  except  those  which  are  on  the 
temple  of  Loro  Jonggran,  among  which  are  the  life- 
sized  figure  known  as  the  Three  Graces,  famous  the 
world  over  for  their  beauty  and  considered  the  best 
types  of  Grecian  Hindu  art  in  Java. 

The  art  of  sculpturing  was  brought  into  Java  by 
the  Hindus  from  India,  where  it  had  been  learned 
from  the  Grecians  who  carried  their  art  into  the  East, 
and  nearly  all  the  faces  on  the  temples  bear  a  striking 
resemblance  to  the  Grecian  type  while  none  of  them 
are  Javanese.  The  Archaeological  Society  of  Djokja 
commenced  the  laborious  task  of  restoring  these 
temples  a  few  years  ago,  nothing  having  been  done 
to  them  since  they  were  cleared  by  Sir  Stamford 
Raffles  eighty-five  years  before,  and  most  of  them 
wTere  again  covered  with  vines  and  trees.  After  they 
were  again  cleared  the  task  of  restoring  them  was  very 
difficult,  for  many  of  the  parts  were  missing  and 
broken.  Where  it  was  possible  the  stones  were 


196      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

shoved  together  and  piled  in  a  way  that  greatly  im- 
proved the  appearance  of  the  temple.  In  addition, 
the  Djokja  Society  had  laws  passed  forbidding  the 
carrying  off  of  any  part  of  the  temple  under  penalty 
of  a  heavy  fine,  but  it  seems  rather  strange  that  it 
took  the  Dutch  so  many  years  to  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  they  should  protect  these  ruins,  for  as 
much  as  one-third  of  them  had  been  carried  off  at 
that  time. 


LAST    GLIMPSES    OF    JAVA 

LANCING  at  my  watch  I  found  more  time  than 
I  supposed  had  been  consumed  in  visiting  the 
temples,  and  that  only  by  walking  briskly  could  we 
reach  the  station  in  time  for  the  train  to  Solo;  but 
when  within  a  few  minutes'  walk  of  the  station  the 
train  went  screeching  past  us  and  it  began  to  look  as 
if  we  would  have  to  spend  the  night  in  one  of  the 
huts  of  the  native  villages,  for  there  are  no  hotels  or 
foreign  houses  within  some  miles  of  Brambanan.  To 
my  surprise,  however,  the  station  agent  came  to  the 
door  and  waved  his  hand  for  us  to  hurry,  for  he  was 
holding  the  train  until  our  arrival.  He  met  me  at 
the  door  with  a  ticket  and  told  me  to  pay  the  conduc- 
tor for  it  on  the  train,  and  both  the  conductor  and 
brakeman  helped  me  on  board, — a  courtesy  I  little 
expected  from  the  railroad  employes,  especially  under 
the  stiff,  stern  Dutch  rule  in  Java.  Still  another 
agreeable  surprise  awaited  me  for  there  were  no  other 
first  class  passengers,  and  I  had  the  whole  compart- 
ment to  myself.  In  hot  countries  like  Java,  one 
wants  as  much  room  as  possible  for  the  air  to  cir- 
culate, and  sitting  near  a  fellow  traveler  is  simply 
torture. 

There  was  little  of  interest  on  the  journey  for  the 

197 


198      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

railroad  ran  through  a  level  country  planted  mostly 
with  rice  and  indigo.  Arriving  at  Solo  we  found  the 
railroad  station  was  some  distance  from  the  town,  but 
it  did  not  take  us  long  to  decide  where  we  would 
stop,  for  the  Hotel  Slyer  is  the  only  good  one  in  the 
place  and  we  were  soon  on  our  way  toward  the  capital 
of  the  Susunhan  or  Emperor. 

The  Kraton,  or  palace  enclosure  in  which  the 
Susunhan  resides,  is  situated  in  the  center  of  Solo.  It 
is  painted  white  and  something  over  four  miles  in 
circumference.  The  court  of  this  monarch  far  sur- 
passes that  of  the  Sultan  of  Djokja  in  regal  splendor, 
although  his  retinue  numbers  five  thousand.  All  the 
forms  and  usages  of  his  royal  ancestors  are  permitted 
him  at  his  court  within  the  Kraton  walls,  but  his 
power  extends  no  further,  for  he  is  always  under  the 
watchful  eye  of  the  Resident,  who  never  allows  him 
outside  the  Kraton  except  with  a  permit. 

The  Susunhan  still  adheres  to  all  the  old  customs 
and  usages  of  his  ancestors,  and  the  Crown  Prince 
and  all  the  royal  household  are  obliged  to  assume  the 
same  humiliating  attitude  in  his  presence  as  the  com- 
monest servant  of  the  court.  This  posture  is  called 
the  "  dodok."  It  is  a  squatting  position,  with  the 
heels  so  bent  that  the  person  appears  to  be  sitting  on 
them  and  resting  his  body  on  his  toes.  In  this  pos- 
ture the  subject  is  obliged  to  hop  and  slide  around 
the  room  never  daring  to  rise  or  turn  his  back  upon 
royalty. 


LAST    GLIMPSES    OF    JAVA  199 

Another  custom  quite  as  humiliating  as  the 
"  dodok  "  consists  of  the  different  degrees  of  respect 
which  the  members  of  the  Susunhan's  court  are 
permitted  to  show  him  according  to  their  individual 
rank.  The  Crown  Prince  is  permitted  to  kiss  his 
royal  father's  hand;  the  princes  next  in  rank  kiss  his 
knee;  the  highest  officers  of  the  court  kiss  his  instep 
while  those  of  lower  rank  kiss  the  sole  of  his  foot. 

I  was  told  that  the  Susunhan  of  Solo  was  not  a 
very  old  man,  but  one  would  hardly  dare  guess  the 
age  of  a  Javanese,  for  in  countries  where  girls  are 
often  mothers  at  ten  and  boys  fathers  at  fourteen, 
people  look  much  older  than  they  really  are.  He 
has  a  pleasant  countenance  and  his  face  shows  he  is 
much  above  the  common  classes  of  Javanese.  He 
wears  a  foreign  military  jacket,  trimmed  with  gold 
cord  and  lace  and  ornamented  with  his  royal  orders, 
an  Arabian  fez,  a  native  sarong  and  toe  slippers.  A 
court  sword  hangs  at  his  left  side  with  a  handsomely 
carved  sheath,  and  through  the  back  of  his  belt  sticks 
a  jeweled  kris. 

There  are  usually  three  great  court  fetes  during 
the  year  which  take  place  on  the  Mohammedan  New 
Year  and  during  Ramadam,  the  great  fasting  time 
of  the  Mohammedans,  and  at  the  Queen  of  Holland's 
birthday.  The  scenes  at  the  Court  of  Prince  Mang- 
koe  Negoro  at  these  times  are  worth  a  trip  around 
the  world  to  see.  The  court  ballet  of  native  dancers, 
with  their  strange  masks  and  dresses,  forms  one  of 


200      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

the  most  interesting  features  of  these  fetes,  and  a 
grand  procession  takes  place  at  the  time  of  these  fes- 
tivities in  which  many  royal  carriages,  diff erent  col- 
ored pa jongs,  beetle  boxes,  fan  bearers,  and  all  the 
great  retinue  of  the  Susunhan,  march  through  the 
streets  of  Solo  with  native  and  foreign  bands  of 
music. 

Solo  is  built  on  a  plain  broken  by  the  winding 
course  of  the  Solo  river,  which  is  the  largest  in  Java 
and  navigable  for  more  than  three  hundred  miles. 
Much  has  been  written  about  the  beauty  of  this  plain 
which  some  writers  say  is  the  prettiest  spot  in  the 
world,  while  others  call  it  the  Paradise  of  the  East. 
Solo  is  the  second  city  in  size  and  built  much  like  the 
other  modern  cities  of  Java,  but  it  is  much  prettier 
because  of  its  beautiful  location  and  much  more  inter- 
esting because  it  is  the  capital  of  the  Susunhan  and 
because  one  sees  there  more  of  the  better  classes  of  the 
Javanese.  Its  streets  are  broad  and  clean  with  great 
rows  of  tamarin  trees  on  either  side. 

Of  the  foreign  dwellings  the  Resident's  mansion  is 
the  most  imposing  and  second  only  to  the  palace  of 
the  Susunhan.  At  the  hotel  there  was  the  usual 
saronged  and  pajamad  crowd,  with  bare  feet  and 
ankles.  From  the  ceiling  of  the  piazza  hung  the 
great  kerosene  lamp,  or  bug  beacon,  and  the  little 
lizards  had  not  diminished  in  number,  for  they  scam- 
pered in  droves  over  the  piazza  after  the  bugs.  We 
learned  that  the  bite  of  these  little  lizards  is  not 


LAST    GLIMPSES    OF    JAVA  201 

poisonous,  nor  is  the  bite  of  the  spiders  or  tarantulas 
fatal  in  Java.  This  lessened  our  dislike  for  the  frisky 
little  creatures,  which  before  had  been  our  torment 
for  our  room  was  always  full  of  them. 

It  makes  very  little  difference  how  many  towns 
one  visits  in  Java,  the  first  visit  is  usually  to  the  "  pass- 
ers," which  never  seem  to  lose  any  of  their  attractive- 
ness for  the  stranger.  Solo's  "  passer "  is  one  of 
the  best  in  Java  and  one  can  visit  it  several  times 
without  seeing  it  all.  It  was  quite  scattered  and 
it  took  considerable  walking  and  hunting  before  we 
were  sure  we  had  reached  its  limits.  There  were 
quantities  of  fruit  and  flowers  and  in  fact  most  of  the 
principal  products  of  the  world  were  massed  together 
in  the  different  booths. 

The  pawnshops  of  Solo  are  far  ahead  of  those  in 
Djokja,  there  are  so  many  of  them  and  they  contain 
a  greater  variety  and  a  much  better  quality  of  things. 
They  all  have  krisses  in  great  numbers,  from  the  re- 
cently manufactured  articles  to  the  very  old  ones. 

There  are  so  many  different  kinds  of  krisses  one 
often  thinks  he  is  being  imposed  upon  in  the  knives 
shown  him,  for  there  are  nearly  fifty  different  varie- 
ties used  in  the  East  Indies  alone,  besides  more  than 
a  hundred  used  in  the  Malay  peninsula.  The  kris, 
no  doubt,  came  from  Malay ;  but  according  to  the  old 
legends  of  Java,  Panji  wras  the  inventor  of  it  and  he  is 
said  to  have  brought  it  with  him  from  India  and  to 
have  been  the  first  to  introduce  it  into  Java.  Panji 


202     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

and  his  various  exploits  are  now  thought  to  be  myths, 
but  at  any  rate  this  knife  was  adopted  by  the  Java- 
nese as  a  badge  of  fidelity,  and  anyone  who  wore  the 
kris  was  considered  a  loyal  citizen.  They  wore  it 
during  the  day  and  slept  with  it  by  their  side  at  night ; 
to  lose  it,  was  to  lose  both  citizenship  and  honor.  The 
peasants,  or  common  classes,  were  never  considered 
citizens  and  hence  they  were  never  allowed  to  wear  the 
kris ;  but  to  all  other  classes  who  had  attained  the  age 
of  fifteen  the  privilege  was  granted.  Even  women 
of  rank  were  allowed  to  wear  it,  and  princes  of  the 
highest  rank  wore  two  or  more. 

The  veining  of  the  kris  is  produced  by  welding  soft 
and  hard  metals  together  and  soaking  them  in  lime 
juice  and  arsenic  to  eat  the  iron  away.  It  was  this 
process  that  gave  rise  to  the  idea  that  all  krisses  were 
poisoned,  and  that  a  stab  from  one  of  them  was  fatal. 
Such  is  not  the  case,  however,  for  the  arsenic  and  the 
lime  juice  were  only  used  to  brighten  the  blade  and 
to  make  the  veins  show  to  better  advantage. 

The  Javanese  were  always  considered  the  best  kris 
makers,  for  they  understood  how  to  work  iron  so  as 
to  give  it  hardness  and  durability  and  they  knew  how 
to  weld  the  different  metals  together  so  as  to  produce 
the  fine  veining  which  makes  the  kris  so  valuable. 
Most  of  the  krisses  are  manufactured  now  in  Europe 
and  they  are  no  longer  used  in  Java  as  a  means  of 
defense. 

Solo  has  one  of  the  largest  Chinatowns  or  Kam- 


A  Javanese  Street  Dancer 


LAST   GLIMPSES    OF   JAVA  203 

pongs  in  Java.  It  is  much  more  cleanly  than  these 
towns  generally  are  and  judging  from  the  number 
of  well-dressed  Chinese  seen  in  the  streets  it  is  in  a 
flourishing  condition.  More  than  twro-thirds  of  its 
population  are  Parankas,  a  mixture  of  Chinese  and 
Javanese,  for  they  have  been  marrying  and  inter- 
marrying for  more  than  three  centuries  and  a  half. 
The  mixture  of  the  two  races,  however,  has  in  no  wise 
changed  the  business-like  money-making  propensities 
to  be  found  in  the  genuine  Chinaman. 

The  Parankas  wear  the  queue  and  adhere  strictly 
to  all  Chinese  customs ;  they  are  much  more  intelligent 
than  the  native  people  and  hold  a  very  important 
place  in  the  business  centers  of  Java.  Moreover,  they 
have  always  been  able  to  hold  their  own  with  the 
Dutch  in  all  commercial  transactions,  and  though  the 
Dutch  govern  them  with  much  severity  and  pretend 
to  dislike  them  greatly,  they  nevertheless  approve  of 
their  cunning,  crafty  and  underhanded  ways  of  do- 
ing business. 

Some  years  ago  laws  were  passed  forbidding  them 
to  come  into  the  country;  but  these  laws  were  soon 
repealed,  for  the  Dutch  found  out  they  could  not  get 
along  without  them,  for  there  was  no  one  to  do  the 
dirty  work.  It  has  been  the  custom  of  the  Dutch  for 
many  years  whenever  they  had  a  disagreeable  piece  of 
work  to  be  done,  to  turn  it  over  to  the  Chinese  who 
have  always  proved  themselves  equal  to  the  occasion. 

The  Parankas  are  made  to  pay  exorbitant  taxes 


and  they  are  taxed  both  when  they  come  into  the  coun- 
try and  when  they  leave  it;  but  with  all  the  severity 
the  Dutch  heap  upon  them  they  are  the  most  pros- 
perous people  in  Java.  They  are  often  seen  dressed 
in  the  finest  European  clothes  and  many  of  the  rich- 
est of  them  live  in  beautiful  villas.  In  fact,  they 
seldom  live  in  houses  like  those  of  the  native  people, 
and  most  of  their  kampongs  are  built  of  brick. 

Leaving  Solo  by  the  early  morning  train  we  found 
we  would  arrive  at  Djokja  in  time  for  the  afternoon 
train  for  Maos,  wrhere  wre  must  spend  another  night 
at  the  Government  Hotel  and  then  proceed  the  next 
day  to  Tjiandjoer,  this  being  the  stopping  place  for 
those  who  wished  to  visit  the  sanitarium  of  Sin- 
danglaja.  Tjiandjoer  is  situated  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain  and  the  locality  is  extremely  warm.  Ponies 
and  carts  for  the  accommodation  of  the  guests  are 
usually  sent  from  the  sanitarium  to  meet  all  the  trains, 
so  after  selecting  two  of  the  best,  one  for  myself  and 
one  for  my  baggage  and  servant,  we  began  to  climb 
the  mountain.  The  road  was  in  good  condition  and  it 
required  very  little  "  heeing  "  and  pounding  of  the 
ponies,  for  they  seemed  to  be  in  good  trim  and  little 
affected  by  the  journey. 

The  mountain  is  3000  feet  in  height.  When  we 
were  half  way  up  the  air  was  much  cooler  and  when 
we  reached  the  top  it  seemed  like  stepping  into  an  ice 
house  on  a  warm  summer's  day  after  being  in  the 
hot  country  below.  The  thermometer  stood  at  about 


LAST    GLIMPSES    OF    JAVA  205 

70°,  a  temperature  which  prevails  the  year  around, 
the  only  variation  being  at  night  when  it  is  somewhat 
colder  and  blankets  become  necessary.  It  was  a 
pleasant  change  after  being  so  long  in  the  heat  of 
central  Java. 

We  found  the  sanitarium  sadly  deserted,  although 
there  were  plenty  of  people  at  Buitenzorg  and 
Garoet  only  a  short  distance  away,  who  had  been  there 
for  their  health  for  these  places  are  so  warm  and 
trying,  and  there  was  not  a  person  at  this  delightful 
mountain  resort.  The  sanitarium  is  two  stories  high, 
with  great  wide  piazzas  both  upstairs  and  down,  and 
one  could  walk  into  the  upper  story  from  one  side  of 
the  mountain.  The  place  seemed  very  desolate  and 
lonesome.  All  kinds  of  amusements  had  been  pro- 
vided for  the  guests,  billiards,  croquet,  a  bowling  alley 
and  a  gymnasium.  Every  tree,  shrub  and  plant  that 
grew  on  the  mountains  was  in  bloom  and  the  air  was 
laden  with  the  most  delicious  perfume.  Growing 
about  the  sanitarium  were  some  of  the  finest  trees  I 
saw  in  Java. 

Every  afternoon  there  was  a  heavy  shower  that 
made  the  air  cool  and  fresh,  and  after  three  days  of 
rest  and  quiet  I  felt  quite  myself  again.  At  six 
o'clock  one  morning  the  ponies  and  carts  were  sent 
around  to  gather  up  my  belongings  and  I  started 
across  the  mountain  to  Buitenzorg.  It  took  nearly 
five  hours  to  make  the  trip  though  the  ponies  went  at 
a  brisk  trot  except  in  the  steepest  places.  The  road 


206     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

wound  through  a  thick,  tropical  jungle  and  at  this 
early  morning  hour  it  was  not  uncomfortably  warm. 

The  climate  of  Buitenzorg  was  very  oppressive 
after  my  stay  at  the  sanitarium.  The  city  has  the 
finest  fruit  market  in  Java,  one  that  is  always  very  at- 
tractive, for  nearly  all  the  different  fruits  that  grow 
on  the  island  are  sold  there  twice  a  week  and  no  coun- 
try in  the  world  has  such  a  number  of  indigenous 
fruits  as  Java.  One  can  visit  it  many  times  before 
becoming  familiar  with  them  all. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  fruits  is  the  rambutan. 
It  looks  more  like  a  nut  than  a  fruit,  for  it  is  covered 
with  a  shell  of  long  spines  resembling  the  burr  of  a 
nut,  and  shaded  from  the  most  delicate  pink  to  the 
deepest  red.  The  fruit  is  very  attractive  and  the 
stranger  generally  buys  it  for  its  gorgeous  coloring. 
When  the  shell  is  pulled  open  there  is  a  juicy  white 
pulp  which  is  very  delicious.  The  managosteen  has 
long  been  called  the  finest  tropical  fruit  of  the  Indies 
and  the  Malay  Peninsula,  where  it  grows  in  great 
perfection.  It  begins  to  ripen  in  the  fall  and  may  be 
had  as  late  as  January.  It  grows  round  like  an 
apple,  of  a  dark  purplish  color,  and  hangs  from  the 
trees  on  long  woody  stems.  When  the  thick  outer 
rind  is  cut  open  the  inside  shows  a  delicate  pink.  It 
is  easily  opened  for  the  shell  parts  in  the  middle  and 
the  two  lobes  contain  a  white  pulp  wrhich  is  considered 
the  most  deliciously  flavored  of  all  the  tropical  fruits. 

Those  who  have  made  the  trip  around  the  world 


LAST    GLIMPSES    OF    JAVA  207 

by  way  of  Penang  are  well  acquainted  with  the 
durian,  for  the  captains  of  the  steamers  usually  give 
the  passengers  many  accounts  of  this  fruit  and  its 
various  odors  before  this  port  is  reached,  and  this  is 
the  place  where  it  is  bought.  The  captain  of  the 
steamer  I  sailed  in  had  a  particular  dislike  for  the 
durian  and  he  told  me  he  always  anchored  out  as  far 
as  possible  so  he  could  not  smell  this  fruit  from  the 
shore  as  the  odor  always  made  him  ill.  He  told  all 
the  passengers  who  went  on  shore  not  to  bring  one  on 
the  ship  for  he  would  surely  throw  them  overboard 
if  they  did.  This  only  made  the  passengers  the  more 
desirous  of  tasting  them,  and  as  soon  as  I  landed  I 
went  in  search  of  the  fruit  and  found  a  good  sized 
pile.  I  called  a  native  boy  to  help  me  select  one  of 
the  best,  and  to  my  surprise  he  chose  the  one  I  thought 
the  worst  of  the  bunch.  The  fact  is  they  must  be 
very  ripe  before  they  are  good  and  when  they  are  in 
this  condition  the  skin  is  very  much  broken  and  they 
have  an  odor  like  decaying  onions  and  overripe  eggs. 
The  one  I  purchased  weighed  about  five  pounds.  I 
had  it  taken  to  the  hotel  where  the  native  boys  peeled 
off  the  outer  skin  and  divided  it  into  sections  like  a 
melon.  It  was  of  a  creamy  white  color  with  black 
seeds,  but  the  pulp  which  grows  around  the  seeds  is 
the  only  part  eaten.  It  tastes  like  the  finest  Spanish 
onions  cooked  in  thick  rich  cream,  but  after  eating  a 
few  mouthfuls  I  found  it  was  too  rich,  and  fearing 
it  would  make  me  sick  I  gave  it  to  the  native  boys 


208     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

who  fought  over  it  like  a  lot  of  dogs  over  a  bone.  A 
gentleman  told  me  he  had  seen  English  children  hav- 
ing just  such  a  squabble  over  the  durian,  for  Euro- 
peans learn  to  like  it  just  as  well  as  the  natives.  The 
outside  of  the  durian  is  rough  and  covered  with  spines 
that  are  disagreeable  to  the  touch.  It  grows  at  a  con- 
siderable height  from  the  ground  and  it  is  allowed  to 
hang  on  the  trees  until  ripe,  when  it  falls  of  itself. 
It  grows  in  every  part  of  the  Archipelago  and  the 
Malay  Peninsula.  Some  writers  have  pronounced  it 
the  finest  fruit  in  the  world,  while  others  declare  that 
the  fetid  odor  of  the  outside  rind  would  condemn  it, 
no  matter  how  delicious  the  inside  pulp  might  be. 
One  thing  is  certain,  its  odor  has  given  it  a  reputa- 
tion beyond  every  other  fruit  that  grows. 


FRENCH   IXDO-CHINA 


CHAPTER   EIGHTEEN 

SAIGON   AND    HAIPHONG 

my  return  to  Batavia  I  found  the  steamer 
about  to  sail,  and  I  was  soon  on  my  way  to 
Tand-jony-priok,  the  seaport.  The  steamer  was 
another  of  the  Royal  Steam  Packet  Company's  boats 
and  exactly  like  all  the  boats  of  this  line.  On  the 
third  morning  at  daylight  after  leaving  Java  we 
arrived  at  Singapore.  The  mail  steamers  were  in 
ahead  of  us  and  lying  alongside  the  dock.  All  the 
passengers  had  to  do  was  to  change  steamers,  and 
within  a  half  hour,  all  except  those  who  remained  in 
Singapore,  were  on  their  way  to  their  respective 
destinations.  I  had  hoped  to  meet  one  of  the  large 
Massageries  Maritimes  mail  steamers,  but  instead 
there  was  only  a  small  cargo  steamer  of  this  line.  It 
proved  more  comfortable,  however,  than  it  looked,  for 
there  were  six  first  class  cabins  opening  off  the  dining 
saloon  and  they  were  good  sized  and  clean. 

When  the  Saigon  river  was  reached  the  ship  slowed 
down  and  a  pilot  came  on  board  to  take  us  up  the 
river,  for  Saigon  is  sixty-five  miles  from  its  mouth. 
It  took  from  four  in  the  afternoon  till  eleven  the  next 
day  to  run  this  distance,  and  the  heat  and  mosquitoes 

were  terrible.     The  large  warehouses  along  the  river 

211 


NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

front  give  Saigon  an  imposing  appearance  as  it  first 
comes  into  view,  for  some  of  these  buildings  have 
great  Chinese  dragons  on  top,  which  give  them  the 
appearance  of  old  Chinese  temples. 

Saigon  is  a  great  surprise  to  the  stranger  for  one 
hardly  expects  to  find  such  a  beautiful  city  in  such  a 
locality;  it  is  Paris  in  every  respect  only  on  a  smaller 
scale.  It  has  the  same  temperature  the  year  around, 
always  scorching  hot,  and  there  is  scarcely  an  attrac- 
tive place  in  all  the  country  around  it.  The  land  is 
low  for  the  most  part  and  the  territory  was  once  rice 
fields  that  have  since  been  filled  in.  It  is  a  very  un- 
healthful  locality  and  foreigners  have  every  disease 
known  to  hot,  unhealthy  tropical  countries.  The 
mosquitoes  are  numerous  and  as  annoying  as  they  are 
along  the  Amazon.  The  city  is  laid  out  in  squares 
with  parallel  streets,  clean  and  well  shaded  by  large 
trees.  All  the  streets  are  paved  and  lighted  by  elec- 
tricity. 

The  residences  of  the  foreign  population  are  gen- 
erally one  story  and  cover  considerable  ground.  Most 
of  them  have  large  yards  filled  with  tropical  trees  and 
plants,  and  they  are  quite  as  attractive  as  the  foreign 
towns  of  Java.  There  is  only  one  grand  avenue 
through  the  place  and  this  runs  to  the  Botanical  and 
Zoological  Gardens.  These  gardens  are  interesting 
and  very  prettily  laid  out.  Their  main  attraction, 
however,  is  the  collection  of  birds,  for  there  is  such 
a  number  and  variety  of  tropical  birds  and  many  of 


SAIGON    AND    HAIPHONG  213 

them  have  gorgeous  plumage.  Orchids  of  rare 
beauty  grow  in  open  work  baskets  and  hang  every- 
where from  the  branches  of  the  trees. 

The  hotels  resemble  cafes  and  restaurants  more 
than  hotels  for  they  have  only  a  few  rooms  that  have 
been  added  for  the  accommodation  of  guests.  None 
of  them  are  good  nor  are  they  clean;  and  one  examines 
the  bed  linen  very  carefully  to  make  sure  it  has  been 
changed  since  the  last  occupant  left  the  room. 

One  of  my  fellow  travelers  told  me  about  his  ex- 
perience in  one  of  these  hotels.  He  said  he  was 
greatly  exhausted  by  the  heat  and  fell  asleep  when  he 
retired,  but  was  soon  awakened  by  an  awful  noise 
which  he  was  sure  came  from  the  mattress  under  him. 
Examining  it  he  found  one  of  the  largest  rats  he  had 
ever  seen  with  six  young  ones  all  in  a  nest  in  the 
mattress.  After  that  I  examined  not  only  the  linen 
on  the  bed  but  the  mattress  as  well. 

These  cafes  are  the  resorts  of  the  foreign  popula- 
tion of  Saigon.  The  people  go  to  them  as  soon  as 
the  sun  is  down  to  drink  coffee  and  wine  and  to  enjoy 
a  social  time  until  long  after  midnight.  In  this  hot, 
sticky,  steamy  climate  a  tight-fitting  dress  is  very 
uncomfortable  and  the  women  wear  Mother  Hubbard 
wrappers;  but  they  are  so  "Frenchified"  with  doz- 
ens of  little  lace  ruffles  they  usually  look  like  night- 
robes. 

The  wide-brim  cork  hats  which  they  wear  to  protect 
themselves  from  the  sun,  are  also  covered  with  dainty 


NEWEST    WAY   ROUND   THE   WORLD 

white  frills  that  make  them  very  unbecoming,  except 
to  very  young  women,  for  the  frills  have  too  childlike 
an  appearance.  All  these  women,  however,  have 
costly  Parisian  gowns  for  extra  occasions  so  when 
they  choose  to  wear  their  foreign  gowns  the  women 
in  the  French  possession  of  China  are  the  most 
stylishly  dressed  in  the  Far  East. 

At  five  o'clock  the  foreign  residents  come  out  for 
a  drive  on  the  grand  avenue  which  runs  through  the 
place,  their  carriages  of  the  latest  French  build  and 
drawn  by  fiery  little  native  ponies  which  are  good 
travelers,  and  these  rigs  are  as  attractive  in  appear- 
ance as  those  seen  on  the  fashionable  drives  in  Paris. 
The  Governor's  Palace,  the  Grand  Cathedral  and  the 
Opera  House  are  the  finest  and  most  costly  buildings 
in  the  place.  The  theater  is  subsidized  by  the  govern- 
ment and  this,  with  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of 
tickets  pays  the  theatrical  company.  The  expense 
of  bringing  the  company  from  Paris  is  also  borne  by 
the  government.  With  all  the  comforts  and  pleas- 
ures with  which  the  French  have  surrounded  them- 
selves in  Cochin-China,  however,  they  cannot  change 
the  miserable  climate,  and  they  are  a  pale-faced  sickly- 
looking  lot  of  people  who  feel  their  exile  keenly. 

Cochin-China  was  the  first  territory  taken  by  the 
French.  It  was  acquired  in  the  early  sixties,  and  they 
have  been  in  possession  of  it  ever  since.  It  was  then 
a  narrow  strip  of  land  lying  along  the  sea-coast,  but 
since  that  time  they  have  greatly  increased  their  terri- 


SAIGON    AND    HAIPHONG  215 

tory  for  they  have  annexed  Cambodia,  Tonkin,  An- 
nam  and,  after  a  difficulty  with  Siam,  they  annexed 
Laos.  The  last  territory  acquired  by  them  was 
Kwang-chan-wan,  in  the  Chinese  province  of  Kwang- 
tung.  Saigon  being  the  capital  has  always  been  the 
most  important  city;  and  although  it  is  the  largest 
commercial  port  in  Cochin-China,  it  is  losing  its  im- 
portance since  Hanoi  has  been  made  the  capital  of  all 
French  Indo-China. 

It  was  with  few  regrets  I  took  my  departure  from 
Saigon.  After  staying  in  this  heated  locality  for 
several  days  and  suffering  from  dirty  hotels  and  poor 
cooking,  my  admiration  of  the  place  had  constantly 
diminished  although,  with  these  exceptions,  the  city 
is  a  little  Paris.  We  were  to  have  left  Saigon  at  nine 
in  the  morning  but  we  were  delayed  as  the  boat  did 
not  leave  the  dock  until  eleven.  It  moved  out  into  the 
middle  of  the  stream  where  we  remained  until  three 
in  the  afternoon  waiting  for  the  tide  to  run  in  so  we 
could  proceed  down  the  river.  It  was  so  frightfully 
hot  the  passengers  could  not  sit  out  on  deck  under 
the  awning,  but  were  obliged  to  go  to  their  cabins  and 
remain  in  them  until  the  boat  was  under  way. 

On  the  main  deck  there  were  at  least  fifty  native 
Annamese,  some  of  whom  were  servants  of  the  first 
class  passengers.  Two  of  them  were  wet-nurses  for 
two  white-robed  pale-faced  French  babies,  and  never 
in  my  life  have  I  witnessed  such  a  disgusting  sight  as 
these  babies  presented,  nursing  these  dirty,  filthy 


216     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

women  who  were  chewing  betel  or  areca  nut  and  ex- 
pectorating the  red  saliva  over  the  deck  of  the  boat 
until  it  looked  like  a  slaughter  house.  The  mothers 
would  hand  their  babies  to  these  dirty  begrimed 
women  with  as  much  indifference  as  if  they  were  the 
white-aproned,  daintily  capped  children's  maids  one 
sees  in  Paris. 

With  all  the  delays  it  took  five  days  to  reach  Hai- 
phong, a  river  town  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cua-cam 
river,  where  two  sand  bars  gave  our  boat  great  diffi- 
culty in  crossing.  It  is  these  sand  bars  that  prevent 
Haiphong  from  being  the  largest  commercial  port  in 
Indo-China,  for,  with  all  the  large  sums  of  money 
and  the  labor  the  French  have  expended  on  this  river, 
they  have  not  been  able  to  deepen  it  sufficiently  for 
large  boats  to  navigate  it,  though  it  has  been  greatly 
improved  and  splendid  docks  have  been  built  at  Hai- 
phong, that  make  landing  an  easy  matter.  The  cus- 
toms house  is  near  the  landing  and  the  baggage  of  all 
the  passengers  was  examined.  The  French  in  Tonkin 
have  adopted  a  system  of  high  tariffs  for  the  protec- 
tion of  their  colonial  trade,  and  this  has  proved  some- 
what detrimental  to  their  commercial  interests  for  it 
has  restricted  the  liberty  of  the  people  and  prevented 
capitalists  from  coming  into  the  country. 

One  can  scarcely  believe  the  stories  related  about 
the  appearance  of  Haiphong  twenty  years  ago.  It 
is  said  that  at  that  time  it  was  nothing  more  than  a 
mudhole  which  was  nearly  inundated  at  high  tide.  It 


SAIGON    AND    HAIPHONG  217 

is  also  said  that  great  swamps  surrounded  it  and  that 
every  door  yard  contained  a  pool  of  filthy  water. 
When  a  lot  was  bought  for  building  purposes,  it  was 
staked  off  in  the  mud  and  water  and  the  site  had  to  be 
filled  in  to  give  the  house  a  foundation  to  stand  upon. 
It  has  been  greatly  improved  since  that  time  under 
the  French  rule,  and  the  large  expenditure  of  French 
francs  has  made  it  into  an  elegant  and  well-built  city. 
Its  streets  are  wide,  clean  and  well  paved,  with  a  num- 
ber of  driveways  and  boulevards,  and  there  are  good 
sewers  and  waterworks  and  the  streets  are  lighted 
with  electricity.  The  residence  portion  is  very  pretty, 
the  houses  large  and  imposing,  with  extensive  grounds 
around  them  but  they  are  not  so  charming  as  those 
of  Saigon,  for  tropical  trees  and  plants  do  not  thrive 
well  in  this  climate. 

The  French  mode  of  living  is  quite  different  in 
Tonkin  from  that  in  France.  The  climate  is  the  cause 
of  some  of  the  changes  for  there  are  seven  months  of 
very  warm  weather  and  five  of  damp,  chilly  weather 
with  quantities  of  rain.  The  latter  season  they  call 
the  most  enjoyable  of  the  year,  but  it  is  far  from 
pleasant,  for  the  dampness  is  so  uncomfortable  and 
none  of  the  hotels  or  houses  are  heated. 

The  coffee  breakfast  one  learns  to  like  so  much  in 
France  has  been  done  away  with,  and  the  people  go 
to  work  at  eight  in  the  morning  on  an  empty  stomach. 
At  eleven  they  quit  work  and  go  home  to  breakfast, 
when  all  business  comes  to  a  standstill  and  all  the 


218     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

stores  and  business  houses  are  locked,  and  the  streets 
deserted.  This  continues  until  two  in  the  afternoon, 
for  three  hours  is  the  time  allowed  for  this  meal,  or 
about  an  hour  and  a  half  in  its  consumption  and  the 
rest  of  the  time  is  spent  in  drinking  coffee,  playing 
cards  and  taking  siestas. 

The  banks  close  at  five  but  the  stores  are  open  until 
six.  At  five  Haiphong's  streets  are  full  of  people, 
and  the  ladies  come  out  for  a  drive  along  the  boule- 
vard, dressed  in  their  Parisian  gowns.  They  would 
not  be  called  pretty  women,  although  they  are  won- 
derfully made  up,  for  they  are  very  thin  and  look  as 
if  they  were  suffering  from  the  effects  of  the  climate. 
There  are  no  street  cars  nor  public  conveyances  ex- 
cept rikshas  drawn  by  Annamese  coolies,  who  make 
better  riksha  men  than  anything  else,  for,  although 
they  are  small,  they  are  very  strong  and  capable  of 
pulling  a  good-sized  load. 

There  are  several  hotels  of  which  the  Hotel  du 
Commerce  is  considered  the  best.  It  is  a  fine-looking 
building  from  the  outside  but  this  is  the  extent  of  its 
fineness,  for  it  is  very  dirty  and  the  meals  are  mis- 
erable. All  the  servants  are  Annamese,  who  do  not 
make  as  good  servants  as  the  Chinese  for  they  are  not 
so  intelligent.  The  French  do  not  treat  them  very 
gently,  they  push  and  shove  them  around  and  pay 
them  very  small  wages.  They  have  adopted  a  system 
of  having  them  all  registered  and  photographed,  and 
refuse  to  employ  any  who  have  not  a  certificate  from 


SAIGON    AND    HAIPHONG  219 

• 

the  police  that  they  have  complied  with  the  law;  so 
if  any  are  guilty  of  wrong  doing  they  can  be  easily 
punished. 

There  is  no  parlor  or  reception  room  in  the  Hotel 
du  Commerce,  but  it  is  the  fashionable  resort  for  the 
well-to-do  people  of  Haiphong.  At  seven  dinner  is 
served  and  there  is  a  complete  change  of  dress  for  this 
meal.  A  large,  dirty  room  opens  on  the  piazza,  and 
this  is  a  kind  of  restaurant,  billiard  and  card  room, 
where  the  people  congregate  after  dinner  to  drink 
coffee,  play  cards  and  have  a  social  chat. 

The  theater  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  expensive 
buildings  in  the  place  but  it  has  a  comparatively  small 
seating  capacity  which  is  usually  very  much  crowded. 
The  same  artists  play  both  at  Haiphong  and  at 
Hanoi,  three  months  at  each  place  during  the  year. 
The  theaters  are  owned  and  leased  by  the  government 
and  the  same  lessee  has  control  of  both,  for  which  he 
receives  a  subsidy  from  the  government.  Almost 
everything  one  wants  may  be  bought  at  Haiphong 
stores  for  they  .are  well  stocked  with  all  kinds  of 
French  goods  and  they  are  as  "  Frenchy  "  in  appear- 
ance as  though  brought  bodily  from  France.  The 
three  banks  and  the  stores  are  said  to  do  a  good  busi- 
ness. French  Indo-China  has  not  been  a  source  of 
revenue  to  the  mother  country  and  it  will  be  some 
time  before  France  will  realize  the  large  sums  of 
money  she  has  spent  on  her  colonies  in  China. 


CHAPTER   NINETEEN 

HANOI,    THE    PARIS    OF    THE    ORIENT 

IT  is  eighty  miles  by  railroad  from  Haiphong  to 
Hanoi;  the  road  is  narrow  gauge  and  the  cars  are 
built  after  the  American  plan,  with  an  aisle  running- 
through  the  center.  The  train  consisted  of  three 
coaches ;  the  first  and  second  class  passengers  were  in 
the  same  car,  separated  by  a  partition  with  lavatory 
between ;  the  third  class  was  for  the  natives.  All  the 
rolling  stock  of  this  road  was  manufactured  in 
France.  It  was  a  very  expensive  road  to  build  for 
there  were  so  many  streams  to  bridge  and  all  the  iron 
work  of  the  bridges  was  manufactured  in  France 
and  sent  out  ready  to  be  put  together.  The  great 
bridge  of  Hanoi  over  the  Red  River  has  made  this 
railroad  somewhat  famous,  for  the  structure  is  mag- 
nificent and  one  of  the  longest  in  the  world.  It  is 
built  of  steel  and  rests  on  a  foundation  of  hard  gray 
sandstone  found  in  Tonkin.  This  bridge  runs  for 
some  distance  across  a  flat  country  before  it  crosses 
the  river,  and  then  it  joins  a  stone  aqueduct  six  hun- 
dred meters  long  and  very  picturesque.  It  has  but 
one  track,  on  either  side  of  which  is-  a  foot  path  for 
pedestrians.  The  railroad  station  at  Hanoi  is  a  fine 
large  building.  It  is  intended  to  make  this  the  grand 
central  station  for  the  many  railroads  that  have  been 
projected  for  Tonkin. 


The  Great  Bridge  over  the  Red  River,  Hanoi 


dS:  =7==^J>j 

'      "      n      fi      if 


Railroad  Station,  Hanoi 


HANOI,    THE    PARIS    OF    THE    ORIENT 

Hanoi,  the  capital  of  French  Indo-China,  like  Sai- 
gon and  Haiphong,  resembles  Paris  except  that  it  is 
smaller.  Its  site  was  once  a  large  swamp,  but  one 
can  scarcely  realize  that  such  is  the  case  when  riding 
along  sixty  miles  of  well-paved  streets  and  boule- 
vards, nearly  all  of  which  are  bordered  with  shade  trees 
and  most  of  them  are  lighted  by  electricity. 

Hanoi's  public  conveyances  are  an  electric  tramway 
and  the  "  Pousse-Pousses."  The  electric  tram  car 
runs  through  the  town  and  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance through  the  suburbs.  It  is  patronized  by  for- 
eigners and  natives  alike,  having  both  first  and  second 
class  accommodations.  The  principal  conveyances, 
however,  are  the  Pousses-Pousses  (pronounced  che), 
which  is  the  French  for  jinrikisha.  The  best  I  ever 
rode  in  were  in  Hanoi.  They  had  been  manufactured 
for  the  Paris  Exposition  and  had  ball-bearing  bicycle 
wheels  with  rubber  tires.  You  could  ride  in  them  all 
day  and  not  feel  fatigued  for  there  was  no  jar  such 
as  is  felt  when  riding  in  the  ordinary  rikshas. 

The  citadel  is  some  distance  from  the  center  of  the 
town  but  it  is  easily  reached  by  the  electric  tramway. 
It  was  the  old  Annamese  fortress  and  the  old  walls 
are  still  standing.  It  is  now  used  as  the  headquarters 
of  the  army  in  Tonkin. 

On  my  way  back  I  stopped  to  see  the  Botanical 
Gardens  with  a  small  Zoological  Garden  at  one  end 
and  containing  some  fine  specimens  of  the  animals  and 
reptiles  of  Indo-China.  These  Botanical  .Gardens 


222     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

are  very  attractive,  having  many  shade  trees  and  some 
fine  driveways.  They  are  the  fashionable  resort  for 
the  residents  of  Hanoi,  who  come  here  to  drive  in  their 
carriages  and  sit  under  the  trees  until  late  in  the  after- 
noon. At  this  time  of  day  the  gardens  present  a 
lively  appearance,  for  nearly  all  the  French  people 
keep  a  carriage  and  a  span  of  ponies,  and  it  is  sur- 
prising how  well  these  little  steeds  look  when  well 
groomed  and  with  a  harness  that  fits  them.  The  car- 
riages are  so  built  they  do  not  look  too  large  and  cum- 
bersome for  the  ponies,  and  the  little  Annamese 
coachmen  and  footmen,  wearing  a  most  becoming 
livery  which  fits  their  forms  nicely  and  consists  of  a 
moderately  high  hat  and  top  boots,  sit  as  straight 
as  an  arrow  and  with  folded  arms. 

The  race  course  is  easily  reached  from  the  Botanical 
Gardens.  The  races  are  well  attended  and  take  place 
on  Sunday.  Considerable  money  changes  hands  on 
these  occasions  for  betting  is  freely  indulged  by  both 
the  men  and  the  women.  The  race  horses  are  the  little 
Tonkin  ponies  which  are  too  small  for  Europeans  to 
ride,  so  they  are  ridden  by  little  Annamese  boys, 
dressed  in  the  colors  of  the  owners.  Some  of  the 
ponies  are  quite  speedy  and  the  races  are  generally 
very  exciting. 

There  are  many  lakes  around  Hanoi  which  give 
one  the  impression  that  the  town  is  surrounded  by 
water.  In  the  center  of  the  city  is  Petit  Lac  and  in 
the  center  of  this  lake  is  an  island  reached  by  a  pretty 


HANOI,    THE    PARIS    OF    THE    ORIENT 

bridge,  and  in  the  center  of  this  island  is  an  old  An- 
namese  temple  with  a  statue  of  liberty  on  top,  which 
was  paid  for  by  contributions  of  the  native  people. 
This  lake  is  another  resort  for  Hanoi's  people  on  a 
warm  summer  evening,  for  the  island  has  a  small  hotel 
or  cafe  near  the  lake  where  the  people  can  drop  in 
for  a  game  of  cards  and  a  social  chat. 

Not  far  from  this  lake  is  the  Roman  Catholic  Ca- 
thedral, the  finest  church  in  the  place.  There  is  also 
a  small  Protestant  French  church  near  by,  but  the 
largest  and  most  magnificent  buildings  are  the  two 
palaces,  one  occupied  by  the  Resident  Superior  of 
Tonkin,  the  other  by  the  Governor  General  of  Indo- 
China. 

Hanoi  has  a  great  variety  of  shops  and  many  kinds 
of  French  goods  can  be  bought  but  they  are  very 
dear.  Although  there  were  both  French  bakers  and 
butchers  neither  the  bread  nor  the  meat  was  good,  and 
besides,  the  French  do  not  patronize  the  native  mar- 
kets for  they  have  their  own.  In  the  native  town 
there  is  a  long  street  where  most  of  the  shops  are  situ- 
ated. In  one  part  of  this  street  were  the  blacksmiths 
and  iron  workers,  in  another  those  who  worked  in  brass 
and  in  still  another  the  jewelers;  but  there  was  noth- 
ing worth  buying  to  take  out  of  the  country. 

Hanoi's  hotels,  cafes  and  boarding  houses  are  nu- 
merous but  none  of  them  first  class.  The  Hotel 
Metropole  is  the  best ;  it  is  new  and  has  a  fine  appear- 
ance. I  was  led  to  believe  it  was  the  best  hotel  in  the 


NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

Far  East,  but  I  was  disappointed,  for  there  is  nothing 
first-class  about  it  beyond  its  situation  on  the  Boule- 
vard Henri  Riviera,  just  opposite  the  palace  of  the 
Resident  Superior  of  Tonkin. 

The  dining  room  is  large  with  high  ceilings  and 
well  adapted  to  hot  weather.  A  cafe  was  being  built 
adjoining  it,  which  extended  back  into  the  yard  at 
the  rear  of  the  hotel.  The  waiters  were  Chinese  but 
all  other  servants  in  the  hotel  were  Annamese.  Din- 
ner was  served  at  7:00  P.  M.  and  there  were  always 
many  private  dinner  parties.  These  meals  evidently 
had  been  ordered  in  advance  for  they  were  much  better 
than  the  regular  bill  of  fare.  At  half  past  eight  the 
people  began  to  arrive  at  the  hotel,  where  they  seated 
themselves  at  small  tables  in  the  cafe,  and  with  a  few 
words  to  the  Annamete  boy  in  pigeon  French,  they 
secured  whatever  kind  of  drink  they  wanted.  A  pack 
of  cards  was  brought  with  the  order  and  they  spent 
the  evening  playing,  smoking  and  chatting ;  the  ladies 
joining  in  these  pastimes  seemingly  with  as  much  en- 
joyment as  the  men. 

One  sees  many  uniforms  on  all  public  occasions, 
for  French  soldiers  must  always  appear  in  regimen- 
tals. It  appeared  as  if  the  whole  country  was  made 
up  of  the  army  and  a  few  government  officials.  As 
in  Paris,  the  Hanoi  citizens  turn  night  into  day  and 
after  spending  a  few  hours  at  the  cafes  they  go  to 
balls,  musicals  and  theaters,  where  they  remain  until 
nearly  morning. 


HANOI,    THE    PARIS    OF    THE    ORIENT       225 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  the  Exposition  was  the 
great  attraction  there.  It  was  designed  to  attract 
the  attention  of  the  outside  world  to  what  the  French 
people  were  doing  in  Indo-China  and  to  give  the 
mother  country  more  confidence  in  the  ability  of  her 
colonies  in  the  Far  East.  It  was  hoped  that  capital 
would  be  attracted  by  the  Exposition  and  would  be 
induced  to  come  and  establish  manufactories  and  in- 
vest money  in  the  various  schemes  set  on  foot  by  the 
government  officials  for  the  improvement  of  the  coun- 
try. By  an  ornate  gate  which  faces  Boulevard  Gam- 
betta  entrance  was  gained  to  the  Exposition  grounds. 
No  admittance  fee  was  charged,  the  expectation  being 
that  the  countries'  exhibits  would  pay  the  expenses  of 
the  Exposition. 

The  Palace  Central  is  a  fine  building  built  to  re- 
main after  the  Exposition  was  over,  to  be  used  as  a 
museum  and  art  gallery.  It  was  the  central  building 
of  the  Fair  and  contained  exhibits  from  different 
parts  of  the  world.  In  one  section  two  jewelry  firms 
from  Paris  had  a  fine  line  of  goods  arranged  in  many 
pretty  designs,  and  in  one  end  of  the  building  was  an 
exhibit  of  the  work  done  in  the  public  schools  of 
Hanoi,  consisting  mostly  of  drawing  and  fancy  nee- 
dlework. Xear  the  center  was  a  collection  of  cabinets, 
tables,  chairs  and  other  articles,  made  from  blackwood 
and  inlaid  with  mother  of  pearl.  This  collection  was 
sent  with  the  exhibit  of  Tonkin  to  Paris  in  1900  and 
it  attracted  much  attention.  In  another  section  was 


226     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

a  small  exhibit  from  Korea  composed  of  a  collection 
of  hats,  of  which  no  other  country  has  so  many  differ- 
ent styles,  worn  by  the  peasantry  and  the  government 
officials.  The  collection  consisted  of  the  more  com- 
mon kind  of  hats  and  was  not  tastefully  arranged. 
One  of  the  most  curious  exhibits  was  a  collection  of 
jewelry  worn  by  a  tribe  which  inhabits  the  mountain 
regions  near  Langson.  These  people  are  neither  An- 
namese  nor  Chinese  but  a  distinct  tribe  by  themselves. 
The  other  buildings  were  attractively  grouped. 

China  and  Japan  occupied  two  large  buildings  and 
their  exhibits  were  the  largest  on  the  ground;  but 
many  of  the  things  were  never  unpacked  for  the  at- 
tendance was  so  small.  In  a  long  building  to  the  north 
of  the  Palace  Central  was  the  exhibit  of  France  and 
her  colonies.  France  of  course  was  well  represented 
and  her  exhibit  was  the  most  tastefully  arranged  of 
any  at  the  fair.  The  exhibit  of  Indo- China  was  small 
because  so  much  of  the  country  is  unimproved  and 
there  is  little  manufacturing  done.  The  most  inter- 
esting things  were  sent  by  the  King  of  Annam  from 
his  private  collection,  and  consisted  of  some  robes 
worn  by  the  former  kings,  gorgeous  in  the  extreme, 
and  others  worn  at  his  own  court  on  state  occasions, 
quite  as  fanciful.  Near  this  exhibit  was  the  collection 
of  gods  and  altar  decorations  which  had  been  taken 
from  the  Buddhist  temple. 

The  Tonkin  Coal  Mining  Company  had  a  large  ex- 
hibit from  the  coal  fields  of  Hongay,  arranged  in 


The  Palace  Central,  Hanoi 


HANOI,    THE    PARIS    OF    THE    ORIENT       227 

pyramids  that  glistened  like  diamonds  and  resembled 
the  anthracite  found  in  Pennsylvania.  It  is  of  an 
excellent  quality  and  the  mines  are  said  to  be  almost 
inexhaustible.  This  is  the  most  extensive  and  the  best 
paying  business  of  Indo-China.  The  companies 
working  these  mines  pay  large  dividends  to  the  stock- 
holders -and  large  quantities  of  the  coal  are  sold  to  the 
neighboring  countries.  Tonkin  has  both  iron  and  cop- 
per mines  that  yield  an  abundance  of  good  ore  but 
they  have  not  been  extensively  worked. 

Near  this  was  the  exhibit  of  Siam,  which  consisted 
of  the  nation's  flags  and  three  huge  elephants,  one  of 
the  most  attractive  sights  of  the  Exposition.  Every 
afternoon  the  little  Siamese  coolies  who  had  the  ele- 
phants in  charge  would  decorate  them  with  some 
pretty  canopied  saddles  and  take  them  to  the  suburbs 
to  feed  on  the  tall  grass  and  banana  stalks  of  which 
they  are  very  fond.  Although  an  elephant  moves 
along  the  road  with  a  measured  tread  that  appears  to 
be  slow  and  cumbersome,  it  is  not  so  in  reality,  for 
when  it  is  gathering  food  for  itself  it  covers  a  great 
deal  of  ground  in  a  short  time  and  its  appetite  is  soon 
satisfied.  It  pulls  up  the  grass  and  banana  stalks  with 
its  trunk,  breaks  off  the  roots  by  striking  them  against 
its  fore  leg  extended  for  the  purpose,  and  then,  divid- 
ing the  stalks  into  lengths  to  suit  its  mouth,  rolls  them 
up  and  devours  them. 

The  American  flag  was  the  largest  on  any  of  the 
buildings  and  it  hung  over  a  building  near  the  en- 


228     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE   WORLD 

trance  gate.  The  first  thought  that  came  to  my  mind 
was, — "  I  wonder  if  there  is  any  American  food 
there ;  "  for  I  had  been  a  long  time  from  home  and  I 
was  ravenous  for  American  cooking.  Entering  the 
building  I  found  it  was  only  a  tobacco  exhibit  from 
Manila,  in  charge  of  a  Spaniard  who  said  he  simply 
loved  America  for  he  had  been  very  prosperous  ever 
since  the  United  States  had  taken  possession  of 
the  Philippines. 

Taking  the  Fair  as  a  whole,  it  was  nicely  gotten  up 
and  an  honor  to  those  who  projected  it;  but  for  some 
reason  or  other  it  failed  to  attract  outsiders  and  in 
consequence  it  did  not  prove  the  great  advertisement 
for  Indo-China  the  projectors  had  hoped. 


CHAPTER  TWENTYi 

BACK   TO    CHINA 

A  LTHOUGH  I  had  gone  to  the  hotel  office  the 
**•  night  before  my  departure  to  pay  my  hill  and 
had  told  the  clerk  I  wanted  rikshas  the  next  morning 
in  order  to  catch  the  six  o'clock  train  for  Haiphong, 
I  found  the  request  had  heen  forgotten  and  that  all 
the  coolies  around  the  hotel  had  overslept  themselves; 
so,  when  I  was  ready  to  start  there  was  not  a  riksha 
in  sight.  After  considerable  delay  two  were  found, 
however,  and  I  started  at  a  lively  pace  for  the  station 
which  was  more  than  a  mile  from  the  hotel.  It  had 
rained  the  night  before  and  the  mud  and  water 
flew  in  every  direction.  A  coolie  ran  on  ahead  to  get 
my  ticket  and  tell  the  train  man  to  await  my  arrival, 
and  though  the  conductor  did  so,  for  I  was  so  nearly 
on  time,  I  was  covered  with  mud  and  water  and  not  in 
a  very  happy  frame  of  mind  when  the  train  pulled 
ou,t  of  Hanoi. 

The  native  coaches  were  crowded  with  people  on 
the  way  to  market  which  is  held  every  morning  half 
way  between  Hanoi  and  Haiphong,  and  they  brought 
into  the  train  all  kinds  of  produce  to  be  sold  there. 
There  were  a  good  many  pigs,  so  fat  they  could  hardly 
walk,  with  bamboo  poles  strapped  to  their  backs  for 

999 


230      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

a  handle  by  which  they  were  carried  as  one  would 
carry  a  satchel,  and  much  to  my  surprise  they  did  not 
squeal  for  they  seemed  to  be  quite  used  to  being 
handled  in  this  way. 

The  Annamese  are  a  small  people,  averaging  not 
over  five  feet  three  or  four  inches  in  height.  The 
men  are  homely  but  some  of  the  women  would  be 
good  looking  were  it  not  for  their  black  teeth  and 
mouth,  the  result  of  chewing  betel  nut.  Both  the  men 
and  the  women  wear  their  hair  long  and  roll  it  up  in 
a  knot  high  on  their  heads.  They  wear  white  cloth 
trousers  with  a  long  black  glazed  cotton  gown  over 
them.  They  are  not  very  intelligent  but  many  of 
the  men  are  very  strong. 

Arriving  at  Haiphong,  I  found  the  ship  for  Hong- 
kong had  not  received  its  cargo  in  time  and  instead  of 
sailing  that  evening  it  would  not  sail  for  two  days. 
This  was  another  disappointing  delay  for  the  weather 
was  growing  damp  and  chilly  and  I  had  to  walk  the 
streets  to  keep  warm,  for  none  of  the  hotels  are  heated. 
Although  I  had  heard  much  about  the  size  and  the 
number  of  Haiphong's  mosquitoes,  I  neither  heard 
nor  saw  one  all  the  time  I  was  there.  The  Annamese 
room  boy  would  tuck  up  the  mosquito  netting  under 
the  bed  clothing,  and  when  I  pulled  it  out  to  let  the 
air  circulate  he  went  through  a  lot  of  strange  actions 
to  show  me  how  much  I  would  suffer  if  the  mosqui- 
toes got  inside.  He  even  measured  their  length  on 
his  fingers  to  give  me  some  idea  of  how  large  they 


BACK    TO    CHINA  231 

were,  but  the  cool  damp  weather  had  completely  si- 
lenced them  and  I  had  no  personal  encounters  with 
them  at  all. 

It  was  a  most  disagreeable  trip  on  a  French 
steamer,  for  the  wind  blew  a  gale  and  the  rain  poured 
all  the  way.  Our  landing  in  the  fog  and  rain  was  dis- 
mal indeed,  but  the  passengers  did  not  seem  to  mind 
it,  for  they  had  all  been  so  ill  during  the  trip  they  were 
delighted  to  set  foot  again  on  terra  firma. 

During  the  week  of  my  stay  in  Hongkong  the  time 
passed  very  pleasantly,  for  I  had  friends  who  enter- 
tained me  royally.  It  was  my  first  Christmas  there 
and  we  had  twro  days  of  it.  I  once  heard  of  a  man 
called  as  a  witness  in  a  case  who,  on  being  questioned 
regarding  the  time  when  a  certain  event  took  place, 
replied  that  it  was  "  the  second  day  of  Christmas." 
This  answer  caused  considerable  merriment  in  the 
court  room,  but  if  this  man  had  been  a  witness  in  a 
case  in  Hongkong  his  answer  would  have  been  ac- 
cepted and  understood,  for  they  have  a  first  and  a  sec- 
ond day  of  Christmas  there  and  just  as  many  New 
Year's  days.  During  these  holidays  the  banks,  the 
steamship  offices,  the  post  office,  the  shops  and  all  the 
places  of  business  kept  by  Europeans  are  closed,  and 
the  town  is  given  over  to  the  Chinese  who  keep  their 
shops  open  and  stand  about  in  the  streets,  which,  in 
consequence,  become  almost  impassable. 

The  day  the  steamer  sailed  the  sun  rose  bright  and 
clear  for  the  first  time  during  my  stay  in  Hongkong. 


232      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

There  were  three  first  class  passengers  besides  myself, 
two  of  them  wealthy  Chinese  tea  merchants  with  gar- 
ments of  the  richest  silk  brocade,  lined  with  Russian 
sable,  their  finger  nails  nearly  three  inches  long  and 
rolled  up  in  the  palms  of  their  hands,  to  show  that  they 
belonged  to  the  class  of  Chinese  who  are  above  labor. 
The  Captain  said  they  had  made  many  trips  with  him 
and  he  treated  them  as  though  they  were  royal 
princes.  They  did  not  sit  near  me  at  the  table,  but  I 
was  glad  that  after  the  first  meal  they  were  seasick 
and  so  confined  to  their  cabins  until  they  reached  their 
destination.  The  other  passenger  was  an  Englishman 
from  Sumatra,  who  was  traveling  around  the  coast 
of  China  and  trying  to  induce  Chinamen  to  go  to 
Sumatra  to  work  on  his  tobacco  plantations.  I  was 
told  confidentially  that  he  promised  them  good  wages, 
but  when  he  got  them  there  he  paid  very  little  for 
their  work  and  took  care  they  never  had  a  chance 
to  return  to  their  native  country.  Europeans  have 
never  been  able  to  enslave  the  people  of  Sumatra  as 
they  have  the  Javanese,  for  they  are  a  brave  and  war- 
like race,  and  the  Dutch  have  never  wholly  subdued 
them  during  all  the  years  they  have  been  in  possession 
of  the  Island. 

Just  twenty-four  hours  after  leaving  Hongkong 
we  arrived  at  Swatow.  The  boat  stayed  here  all  day 
for  there  was  little  cargo  to  take  on,  and  the  ship's 
comprador  offered  to  show  me  over  the  town.  The 
compradors  are  the  commercial  agents  of  the  ships 


An  Annamese  "\Yoman  of  Tonkin 


BACK    TO    CHINA 

and  they  are  usually  very  well-to-do.  As  we  were 
walking  along  the  main  street  of  the  town  we  saw  a 
commotion  before  the  door  of  one  of  the  houses  and 
stopping  to  see-  what  it  was,  the  comprador  said,  most 
indifferently,  "  It  is  nothing  at  all  but  a  mother  trying 
to  sell  her  baby.  You  can  see  this  in  almost  every 
town  in  China  every  day  in  the  week." 

Both  the  mother  and  the  baby  were  well  dressed  in 
new  clothes  of  the  sort  worn  by  the  peasant  classes, 
and  the  baby  appeared  to  be  eight  or  nine  months  old. 
The  mother  was  very  careful  to  assure  the  bystanders 
of  the  masculine  gender  of  the  child,  and  declared  she 
was  not  trying  to  palm  off  on  them  anything  so  abso- 
lutely worthless  as  a  girl  baby.  Asked  why  she  wished 
to  dispose  of  her  infant  she  said  over  and  over  again, 
"  No  chow,  no  chow  " ;  which  means  nothing  to  eat. 
She  followed  me  for  many  blocks  around  the  streets 
trying  to  induce  me  to  buy  her  baby,  and  it  was  evi- 
dent the  child  was  drugged  for,  in  her  frantic  efforts 
to  dispose  of  it,  she  almost  let  it  fall  several  times, 
but  the  child  never  even  made  an  outcry  nor  opened  its 
eyes.  At  first  she  asked  thirty  Mexican  dollars;  but 
the  price  kept  falling  until  a  few  cents  would  have 
bought  it.  I  was  told  by  those  who  had  lived  among 
the  Chinese  for  many  years  that  they  wrere  guilty  not 
only  of  selling  their  babies,  but  that  almost  every 
family,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  was  also  guilty 
of  infanticide,  and  that  many  more  girl  babies  than 
boy  babies  were  killed,  though  in  some  cases  both  fared 


234     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

alike  when  the  parents  were  too  poor  and  the  child 
prevented  the  mother  from  working.  When  the  baby 
is  born  the  parents  pay  no  attention  to  it  and  it  soon 
dies.  The  worst  of  it  is  they  are  not  particular  about 
burying  the  body  for  they  often  throw  it  into  the  back 
yard  or  on  to  the  commons  for  the  hogs  and  dogs  to 
devour. 

Swatow  is  the  place  where  all  kinds  of  pewter  ware 
is  manufactured.  It  is  very  heavy  to  carry  away  but 
it  is  interesting  to  visit  these  shops  and  see  the  various 
articles  made  from  this  metal  and  the  fine  workman- 
ship the  Chinese  put  on  them. 

Some  years  ago  a  Baptist  minister  came  to  Swatow 
as  a  missionary  from  America  and  built  the  village 
known  as  the  Missionary  Settlement,  situated  on  the 
mainland  two  miles  from  the  Chinese  town.  It  is 
said  that  when  he  first  came  here  he  went  to  the  Ya- 
men  of  Swatow,  the  place  where  a  Chinese  official  lives 
and  carries  on  his  official  business,  usually  composed 
of  several  buildings  surrounded  by  a  high  wall 
painted  yellow,  and  asked  the  Yamen  for  land  on 
which  to  build  a  mission.  He  pretended  to  think  that 
the  Yamen  had  given  him  the  open  space  in  front  of 
his  own  dwelling,  so  when  he  commenced  building 
there  the  Yamen  had  to  stop  him.  He  pretended  to 
think  then  that  the  Yamen  had  said  he  could  have 
the  ground  in  front  of  the  old  Chinese  fortifications, 
but  here  again  he  was  stopped  for  his  buildings  would 
interfere  with  the  maneuvers  of  the  army.  In  order 


BACK   TO    CHINA  235 

to  get  rid  of  this  troublesome  individual  the  Yamen 
finally  gave  him  the  tract  of  land  on  which  the  village 
is  built,  and  he  was  careful  to  get  the  whole  thing  in 
his  own  name,  so  it  is  all  his  own  property.  Much  of 
the  ground  was  swampy  but  he  hired  cheap  Chinese 
labor  and  had  it  filled  in,  and  he  has  turned  out  to  be 
one  of  the  shrewdest  missionaries  in  China,  for  he 
now  rents  the  property  for  $20,000  per  annum  to  the 
missionaries  who  reside  in  the  village.  He  built  a 
church,  but  it  is  so  small  and  insignficant,  compared 
with  the  other  buildings,  it  would  never  be  seen  unless 
pointed  out ;  and  many  have  been  there  and  have  come 
away  declaring  there  is  no  church.  Such  is  not  the 
case,  however,  for  it  is  so  overtopped  by  other  build- 
ings it  is  difficult  to  find. 

After  dinner  we  started  again  on  our  journey  and 
about  five  o'clock  the  next  morning  arrived  at  Amoy. 
It  was  New  Year's  Day,  bright  and  beautiful,  not  a 
cloud  in  the  sky.  At  breakfast  the  Captain  informed 
us  he  was  allowed  the  two  New  Year's  holidays  and 
that  he  was  going  to  spend  them  here  for  he  was  a 
member  of  the  club  and  hoped  to  have  a  jolly  time. 
Before  we  were  through  breakfast  the  American  Con- 
sul, Mr.  Fesler,  came  on  board  to  see  the  Captain, 
and  finding  an  American  among  the  passengers,  in- 
vited me  to  go  on  shore  and  spend  the  day  with  him 
and  his  wife.  I  found  that  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fesler 
were  born  near  my  native  town,  Princeton,  Illinois, 
and  that  we  had  many  mutual  friends  there.  This 


236     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE   WORLD 

stimulated  a  friendly  feeling  for  each  other  and  I 
passed  a  very  pleasant  New  Year's  Day  with  them. 

Amoy  is  the  shipping  port  for  the  many  tea  planta- 
tions situated  in  this  part  of  China.  It  is  said  to  be 
the  filthiest  town  in  China,  but  I  could  see  no  differ- 
ence between  it  and  other  Chinese  towns,  for  they  are 
all  very  dirty.  It  had  been  nearly  destroyed  by  fire 
only  a  short  time  before  and  this  gave  it  a  very  dilapi- 
dated appearance.  The  foreign  population  lives  on 
the  Island  of  Kulangsu,  just  opposite  Amoy,  a  pretty 
Island,  but  very  rocky  and  hilly.  In  some  parts  the 
hills  rise  two  or  three  hundred  feet  above  the  sea  and 
all  the  foreign  consuls  reside  there. 

On  the  highest  hill  of  the  Island  stands  a  large  brick 
residence  surrounded  by  several  small  ones  known  as 
the  Talmage  Mission.  It  was  founded  by  a  brother 
of  the  Reverend  De  Witt  Talmage  more  than  twenty- 
five  years  ago,  and  after  his  death  the  work  was  con- 
tinued by  his  widow  and  two  daughters  by  his  first 
wife,  who  had  grown  old  in  the  missionary  service. 
They  were  said  to  be  very  exclusive  and  hard  to  get 
acquainted  with,  but  very  faithful  in  their  mission 
work. 

The  French,  English  and  German  consuls  live  in 
fine  residences,  and  the  club  house  is  a  very  good 
building  for  so  small  a  place.  It  contains  quite  a 
large  library  with  billiard  and  card  rooms  and  a  hall 
where  dances  and  receptions  are  held.  There  was  con- 
siderable strife  in  this  community  of  a  hundred  or 


BACK   TO    CHINA  237 

more  foreigners  over  the  subject  of  which  of  the  con- 
suls' wives  should  be  its  social  leader,  yet  in  spite  of 
this  difference,  they  seemed  to  enjoy  themselves 
greatly,  for  the  ladies  told  me  they  had  so  many  en- 
gagements it  was  almost  impossible  to  attend  them 
all. 

I  had  been -so  agreeably  entertained  I  was  sorry; 
when  the  signal  sounded  from  the  steamer  for  all  to 
come  on  board  for  it  was  about  to  sail.  The  Min  is 
the  prettiest  river  in  China,  with  its  green  hills  on 
either  side,  some  of  them  covered  with  a  rich  soil  and 
cultivated  to  the  top.  On  either  side  of  the  entrance 
are  Chinese  forts  which  have  a  very  picturesque  ap- 
pearance, especially  from  the  deck  of  the  steamer, 
but  they  are  said  to  be  of  little  use.  Owing  to  the 
many  sandbars  in  the  river  large  steamers  cannot  go 
farther  than  Pagoda  Anchorage,  nine  miles  from 
Foochow,  where  a  small  steam  launch  meets  the 
steamers  and  takes  the  passengers  and  their  baggage 
to  the  city.  This  launch  often  runs  into  the  sandbars 
and  has  to  wait  four  or  five  hours  until  the  tide  rises 
high  enough  to  float  it  off. 

When  we  arrived  at  Foochow  it  was  pitch  dark  and 
none  of  us  knew  the  way  to  the  hotel.  After  some 
delay  we  got  a  coolie  to  show  us  the  right  road  but 
we  found  the  hotel  was  nothing  more  than  a  small 
boarding  house  over  a  store,  and  when  we  arrived 
there  every  room  was  taken.  After  considerable 
coaxing,  however,  the  proprietor  gave  me  a  small 


238     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

hall  bed-room  that  was  hardly  large  enough  to  turn 
round  in.  The  gentlemen  fared  worse  than  I  for 
they  were  assigned  to  mattresses  on  the  floor  of  the 
dining  room,  with  the  promise  of  rooms  the  next  day 
when  some  of  the  passengers  would  leave  on  the 
steamer. 

Foochow  is  quite  hilly  and  the  only  way  of  getting 
about  is  by  means  of  sedan  chairs  or  on  horseback. 
It  is  rather  a  pretty  place,  though  there  is  not  much 
to  see  beyond  a  few  pagodas  some  distance  from  the 
town.  It  has  always  been  famous  for  its  lacquer  work, 
done  by  the  Chinese  and  considered  superior  to  the 
Japanese  variety.  All  I  saw  was  finely  done  and  very 
beautiful;  but  it  was  impossible  to  get  a  piece  for  it 
is  always  engaged  beforehand. 

It  is  not  easy  to  get  into  or  out  of  Foochow,  for  the 
steamship  offices  know  nothing  about  the  sailing  time 
of  the  ships  at  Pagoda  Anchorage,  which  do  not  leave 
until  they  get  a  cargo,  whenever  that  may  be.  So, 
when  the  passengers  hear  there  is  a  steamer  at  the 
Anchorage  bound  their  way,  they  have  the  launch 
take  them  down  there  and  they  go  on  board  to  wait 
until  it  sails.  It  was  only  by  the  merest  chance  I 
learned  there  was  a  steamer  bound  for  Shanghai,  and 
I  lost  no  time  in  getting  to  it. 

When  the  boat  came  in  sight  the  only  thing  I  could 
see  was  its  white  sides  and  its  mast,  towering  above 
thirty  or  forty  junks  unloading  around  it,  and  I  was 
curious  to  know  how  the  launch  could  get  near  enough 


A  Chinese  Woman  of  tlie  Better  Class 


BACK    TO    CHINA  239 

for  me  to  go  on  board.  The  Chinese  pilot  assured  me 
he  would  manage  that  all  right  but  it  proved  a  fearful 
undertaking,  for  there  were  no  less  than  five  junks  to 
be  crossed.  The  launch  came  up  to  the  top  of  the 
first  one  and  we  got  into  it  quite  easily;  but  the  next 
was  nearly  empty,  and  it  was  necessary  to  pile  bags  of 
rice  high  enough  for  me  to  cross  it  to  the  third.  Be- 
sides they  were  so  far  apart  that  planks  were  needed 
from  one  to  the  other,  and  if  the  boat  moved  or  rocked 
I  stood  a  chance  of  being  thrown  into  the  water  below. 
When  the  ship  was  reached  there  was  no  getting  near 
the  ladder  and  I  had  to  climb  over  the  railing  and  slide 
down  the  other  side.  The  coolies  brought  my  baggage 
after  me,  throwing  it  from  one  boat  to  the  other,  and 
I  was  sure  from  the  noise  it  made  in  falling  that  it 
would  be  broken  in  pieces,  and  I  was  greatly  relieved 
when  it  took  its  last  somersault  and  landed  on  the 
deck  of  the  steamer  very  much  the  worse  for  its  trip. 

The  boat  was  one  of  the  China  Merchant  steamers 
on  which  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  procure  passage, 
for  they  belong  to  a  Chinese  company  and  often  the 
first  cass  cabins  are  all  taken  by  a  mandarin,  or 
Chinese  official,  for  himself  and  his  wives.  The  Cap- 
tain told  us  this  had  been  the  case  on  a  former  trip 
when  the  passengers  were  obliged  to  go  back  and  wait 
for  the  next  boat. 

The  officers  of  this  line  are  English  and  Scotch, 
and  we  were  fortunate  in  having  only  two  Chinese  for 
first  class  passengers,  who  chose  to  eat  with  the  Chinese 


head  steward;  so  there  was  only  one  first  class  pas- 
senger besides  myself  at  the  table,  a  Canadian  em- 
ployed by  an  American  insurance  company  with 
headquarters  at  Shanghai.  He  said  that  in  the  space 
of  six  months  he  had  made  $6000  in  gold  above  all 
expenses,  by  insuring  Chinamen,  who  liked  the  paid 
up  policies,  he  said,  because  they  provided  a  place  to 
secrete  their  money  so  that  their  families  and  the  gov- 
ernment could  not  get  hold  of  it,  besides  obviating  the 
necessity  of  paying  taxes  and  securing  a  future 
income. 

After  a  rather  tempestuous  voyage  I  landed  in 
Shanghai  January  7th,  1903.  On  the  way  out  I  had 
sailed  from  this  place  October  7th,  1902,  three  months 
to  the  day  from  the  time  I  had  left  this  city,  though 
I  had  not  arranged  to  do  so.  A  great  change  had 
taken  place  in  the  climate  and  appearance  of  Shanghai 
in  the  short  time  I  had  been  absent,  for  when  I  left 
in  October  the  weather  was  perfect,  with  warm  sunny 
days  and  bright  moonlight  nights ;  but  now  the  leaves 
had  fallen  from  the  trees,  the  flowers  along  the  Bund 
were  brown  and  dry,  the  little  park  looked  forlorn 
and  deserted,  and  everyone  was  dressed  in  thick,  win- 
ter clothing.  Shanghai  is  not  a  winter  resort ;  some- 
times it  is  cold  enough  for  a  light  snowfall,  and 
during  December  and  January  there  are  usually  very 
heavy  rainfalls. 

The  morning  I  again  sailed  was  bright  and  clear. 
The  air  was  crisp  and  cold  and  one  drew  one's  wraps 


BACK    TO    CHINA 

close  to  be  comfortable.  The  brightness  of  the  morn- 
ing, however,  had  the  effect  of  making  everyone 
cheerful  and  there  were  none  of  those  solemn  counte- 
nances one  sees  when  people  are  going  on  long  jour- 
neys. When  the  signal  came  for  "  all  ashore  that's 
going  ashore,"  there  was  nothing  but  smiling  faces, 
and  we  all  went  on  the  upper  deck  of  the  launch  to 
wave  good-by  and  see  Shanghai,  the  Queen  of  the 
East,  pass  gradually  out  of  sight. 

Owing  to  the  shallowness  of  the  Hwang-pu  river 
and  the  sandbars  at  its  mouth,  none  of  the  large 
steamers  go  up  to  Shanghai  but  anchor  off  Woo-sung. 
It  took  the  tender  two  hours  of  hard  steaming  to  get 
down  tliere,  where  we  found  awaiting  our  arrival,  the 
Empress  of  China,  one  of  the  steamers  of  the  Em- 
press line  owned  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad 
Company.  It  seemed  almost  a  mountain  in  size,  as  I 
walked  up  the  long  ladder  to  its  upper  deck  after 
traveling  on  fifteen  small  coast  steamers,  and  it  was 
the  third  largest  steamer  I  had  traveled  on  in  these 
waters,  and  the  eighteenth  since  leaving  America. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday  and  the  stewardess  asked 
in  the  morning  if  I  proposed  to  attend  church.  I  said 
I  certainly  should  if  the  Captain  was  to  conduct  the 
service,  for  I  thought  it  the  duty  of  every  passenger 
to  show  this  respect  to  the  commander.  It  is  one  of 
the  rules  on  all  passenger  ships  belonging  to  Great 
Britain  and  her  colonies  that  the  captain  must  read 
the  Church  of  England  service  on  Sunday  morning. 


NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE   WORLD 

I  have  attended  these  services  the  world  over,  but  I 
never  heard  a  captain  read  the  services  as  well  as 
Captain  Archibald  of  the  Empress  of  China.  I 
am  sure  that  anyone  who  had  not  known  he  was  a 
captain  would  have  thought  him  a  regularly  ordained 
minister  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  no  ordinary 
one  at  that. 

Another  thing  in  connection  with  this  Sunday  serv- 
ice, and  one  which  I  had  never  seen  on  any  other 
English  ship,  was  that  all  the  crew  not  on  duty  at- 
tended church  in  their  smartest  clothes.  The  sailors 
marched  in  like  a  lot  of  well-drilled  soldiers,  dropped 
upon  their  knees  as  they  entered,  and  looked  neither 
to  the  right  nor  the  left,  but  paid  the  strictest  atten- 
tion to  the  service.  I  soon  discovered  that  everything 
on  board  was  managed  with  as  little  friction  and  with 
about  the  same  precision  as  the  machinery  which  pro- 
pelled it,  for  the  captain  allowed  no  discordant  ele- 
ments to  exist  among  the  crew.  If  they  could  not 
agree  with  one  another  they  had  to  go;  and  his  firm, 
quiet  way  made  them  all  stand  in  respectful  awe  of 
him,  for  they  never  knew  just  which  one  of  them 
might  be  left  at  Vancouver. 

The  table  was  excellent;  nearly  all  the  food  was 
from  America  and  nicely  cooked  and  served.  One 
evening  at  dinner  the  Captain  said,  "  Miss  Miller,  you 
have  visited  so  many  different  countries,  will  you 
please  tell  me  which  one  in  all  the  world  you  like  the 
best? " 


Happy   Valley,  Hong  Kong 


BACK    TO    CHINA  243 

"  Yes,  Captain,"  I  replied,  "  that  is  very  easy  and 
I  will  give  it  to  you  in  verse : "  and  I  proceeded  to 
repeat  the  following  stanzas  from  a  song  first  sung 
by  a  clown  in  "  Yankee  Robinson's  Circus."  It  was 
the  first  song  I  had  ever  learned  to  sing,  taught  me  by 
my  father,  who  greatly  admired  its  sentiment: 

"  Of  all  the  mighty  nations 
In  the  east  or  in  the  west 
The  glorious  Yankee  nation 
Is  the  greatest  and  the  best. 
We.  have  room  for  all  creation, 
Our  banner  is  unfurled, 
Here's  a  general  invitation 
To  the  people  of  the  world. 

So  come  along,  come  along, 
Make  no  delay, 
Come  from  every  nation 
And  come  from  every  way. 
Our  lands  they  are  broad, 
Now  don't  you  be  alarmed, 
For  Uncle  Sam  is  rich  enough 
To  give  us  all  a  farm." 

At  its  conclusion  the  Captain  asked  me  which  of 
the  oriental  nations  I  liked  the  best,  and  I  replied,  of 
course,  Japan,  adding  that  if  it  advanced  in  the 
future  as  it  had  in  the  past,  it  would  not  be  long  be- 
fore it  would  be  the  equal,  if  not  the  superior,  of  any 
nation  on  the  globe. 


JAPAN 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-ONE 

"THE    LAND    OF    THE    RISING   SUN" 

OR  the  eighth  time  I  found  myself  crossing  the 
Yellow  Sea,  but  it  was  the  first  time  I  had  ever 
enjoyed  the  trip,  for  I  had  always  found  it  so  rough 
and  disagreeable.  We  were  two  days  and  a  half  cross- 
ing from  China  to  Nippon,  as  the  Japanese  call  their 
country,  which,  in  some  unaccountable  way,  the 
Chinese  and  other  foreigners  have  twisted  into 
"Japan." 

The  beauty  of  Nagasaki's  harbor  lies  in  the  green 
hills  around  it,  covered  to  the  top  with  large  camphor 
trees  centuries  old.  These  hills  almost  surround  the 
harbor,  for  the  opening  between,  where  the  ships 
enter,  is  less  than  half  a  mile  across.  Here  and  there 
on  the  sides  of  the  hills  are  dwellings  built  on  terraces, 
and  on  their  summits  little  villages,  temples  and  tea 
houses  that  look  very  charming  nestling  among  the 
green  foliage  of  the  trees.  This  is  the  principal  coal- 
ing station  in  the  Far  East  and  boats  from  all  climes 
and  nations  come  here  for  coal.  The  mine  from  which 
the  coal  is  obtained  is  situated  on  the  Island  of  Taka- 
shima,  not  far  from  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  and  so 
near  the  sea  that  the  barges  load  at  its  entrance. 

As  we  came  alongside  the  landing  one  of  the  pas- 
sengers called  attention  to  the  "  kurumas  "  waiting 

24T 


248      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

for  us.  This  name  is  used  in  Japan  mostly  by  new- 
comers and  by  people  who  wish  to  appear  elegant 
and  learned.  It  is  another  name  for  the  little  gig-like 
vehicle  known  the  world  over  as  the  jinrikisha,  a  con- 
veyance invented  by  an  American  living  in  Japan, 
who,  having  lost  the  power  of  locomotion  through  ill- 
ness, invented  it  as  a  means  of  getting  about.  In 
time  it  became  popular  and  it  is  now  used  in  the  East 
as  far  as  India. 

Nagasaki's  fine  situation  on  the  southwest  coast  of 
Japan  has  given  it,  like  the  harbor,  a  reputation  the 
world  over  for  its  beauty.  The  hotel  and  steamship 
offices  are  situated  along  the  Bund,  a  pretty,  wide 
street  in  front  of  the  harbor,  and  because  of  the  great 
number  of  strangers  who  visit  this  city  each  year,  as 
more  ships  call  here  than  at  any  other  seaport  in  the 
country,  its  curio  shops  are  in  a  flourishing  condition. 
The  porcelain  bazars  are  very  numerous  and  the  blue 
wares,  known  as  Imari  and  Deshima,  are  the  prin- 
cipal varieties  displayed  in  them.  These  porcelains 
are  very  popular  and  quantities  are  shipped  each  year. 
The  potteries  where  they  are  manufactured  are  situ- 
ated near  Nagasaki  and  date  back  to  the  time  when 
the  art  was  first  introduced  into  the  country  from 
Korea  and  China,  many  centuries  ago. 

Nagasaki's  fish  market  is  very  extensive  but  it  is 
not  necessary  to  visit  it  for  it  visits  you,  or  rather,  the 
odor  does;  it  permeates  the  harbor,  the  city  and  the 
surrounding  country.  I  read  in  a  Japanese  news- 


"THE    LAND    OF    THE    RISING    SUN"       249 

paper  that  there  are  three  hundred  varieties  of  fish 
found  on  the  coast  of  Japan,  and  it  is  said  that  every 
one  of  them  may  be  found  in  Nagasaki's  fish  market. 
On  account  of  their  odoriferous  character,  however,  I 
did  not  take  pains  to  verify  either  statement. 

By  a  rather  steep  road  at  the  back  of  the  town 
one  reaches  the  public  park  belonging  to  O-Suwo 
temple ;  a  pretty  place  with  a  fine  view  of  the  city  and 
the  harbor.  When  General  Grant  came  to  Nagasaki 
it  was  near  the  top  of  the  hill  in  this  park  that  he  and 
Mrs.  Grant  planted  trees  to  commemorate  their  visit. 
The  trees  were  well  taken  care  of,  but  after  a  few 
years  one  of  them  died,  another  being  planted  in  its 
place,  and  both  are  now  in  a  flourishing  condition. 
A  rough  stone  stands  between  the  trees,  inscribed  with 
the  date  of  the  planting  and  the  monogram  of  the 
General.  At  a  tea  house,  also  in  this  park,  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Nagasaki  gave  a  Japanese  dinner  in  their 
honor;  a  splendid  affair,  interspersed  with  different 
kinds  of  entertainments  including  geisha  dancers, 
tumblers,  jugglers  and  theatrical  performances. 

Nagasaki  was  the  first  port  opened  to  foreigners 
and  it  has  never  been  wholly  closed  to  them,  for  when 
the  United  States  sent  Commodore  Perry  to  Japan  in 
1853,  to  open  her  ports  to  foreign  nations,  the  Chinese 
were  allowed  to  enter  the  country  at  Nagasaki  and  a 
few  Protestant  Dutch  were  permitted  to  live  on  the 
little  island  of  Deshima  in  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki, 
where  the  porcelain  bazars  now  are. 


250     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

Nippon,  according  to  geologists,  is  the  last  addi- 
tion to  the  world.  It  has  something  over  40,000,000 
inhabitants  occupying  a  territory  about  the  size  of 
New  York  State.  They  are  a  very  polite  and  cheery 
people,  who  have  a  way  of  getting  along  that 
astonishes  a  foreigner.  There  are  no  almshouses  in 
the  country  and  not  many  beggars  for  the  people  are 
very  industrious,  economical  and  wonderfully  self- 
reliant,  and  this  may  account  for  the  small  number  of 
dependent  people.  The  working  classes  receive  very 
low  wages, — from  eight  to  thirty  cents  a  day  in  our 
money, — but  they  manage  to  save  some  of  it  and 
nearly  all  of  them  have  something  laid  by  for  future 
use. 

For  the  third  time  I  crossed  the  Inland  Sea  after 
leaving  Nagasaki  and  found  the  trip  monotonous; 
for,  though  the  scenery  is  very  pretty  and  one  always 
enjoys  the  smooth  waters  and  peaceful  calm  that  pre- 
vail upon  this  sea,  there  is  a  great  sameness  to  it. 

At  nine  in  the  evening  we  entered  the  harbor  before 
Kobe  and  Hiogo,  but  because  of  the  darkness  and  the 
fog,  the  whistle  from  the  steamers  brought  no 
launches  for  the  passengers  and  we  had  to  stay  on 
board  until  morning.  At  the  landing  was  the  usual 
customs  house,  which  I  found  to  be  a  knotty  proposi- 
tion, for  almost  everything  brought  into  Japan  at 
that  time  was  dutiable.  When  I  complained  of  the 
insolence  of  the  customs  house  officers  and  their 
method  of  tearing  things  open,  they  sarcastically  re- 


"THE    LAND    OF    THE    RISING    SUN"       251 

marked  that  I  should  not  complain,  as  they  had  only 
adopted  the  methods  of  the  United  States  in  that 
respect;  and  seeing  that  I  was  an  American  and  not 
used  to  "  mean  customs  houses  "  they  would  let  me 
off  on  payment  of  six  yen  duty.  After  I  had  gath- 
ered my  baggage  together,  which  was  no  little  trouble, 
they  all  three  laughed  and  asked  if  I  did  not  think 
I  had  gotten  off  cheap.  These  fellows  had  forgotten 
the  politeness  for  which  their  country  is  so  famous. 

Kobe  in  January  is  far  from  being  pleasant,  and 
its  finely  sheltered  position  at  the  head  of  the  Inland 
Sea  does  not  seem  to  render  it  less  subject  to  the  raw 
winds  than  the  less  favored  towns,  for  nearly  every 
day  there  is  a  heavy  downpour  of  rain.  Hiogo  and 
Kobe  are  so  situated  it  is  impossible  to  find  the  divid- 
ing line  between  them.  The  former  is  the  ancient 
city,  inhabited  by  native  people,  and  the  latter  was 
nothing  but  a  sandy  waste  prior  to  1868,  though  now 
it  is  a  large,  modern  city.  The  population  of  both 
these  towns,  when  they  were  opened  to  foreign  trade 
thirty-five  years  ago,  was  only  10,000,  but  now  the 
two  cities  have  a  population  of  217,000.  Kobe  is  an 
important  commercial  city  and  the  seaport  for  Osaka 
and  Kioto. 

At  Hiogo  I  saw  the  funeral  of  one  of  the  richest 
tea  merchants  in  Japan,  a  very  imposing  spectacle. 
The  coffin  was  a  square  wTooden  box  covered  with 
white  silk  and  festooned  with  white  and  tinsel  cords. 
It  was  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  uniformed  coolies 


by  means  of  a  bamboo  pole  attached  to  it,  and  looked 
very  small  for  an  adult  corpse  even  in  a  sitting  pos- 
ture. In  front  of  the  coffin  walked  twelve  Buddhist 
priests  in  gorgeous  robes,  and  just  behind  it  followed 
a  cage  of  white  doves.  Then  came  the  food  offerings 
for  the  dead  and  a  half  dozen  or  more  small  evergreen 
trees  and  bouquets  of  flowers  carried  by  coolies, — the 
offerings  from  the  friends  of  the  dead, — and  last  of 
all  came  a  long  line  of  rikshas  filled  with  hired  mourn- 
ers who  were  a  lot  of  women  dressed  in  white,  their 
faces  painted  to  look  ghastly.  There  were  many 
white  and  red  banners  borne  along  the  line.  At  the 
cemetery  the  priests  droned  prayers  for  the  dead  and 
the  mourners  wailed  dolefully.  One  by  one  the  whole 
assembly  passed  before  the  coffin,  bowing  low,  and 
laid  a  small  branch  of  evergreen  on  it.  The  coffin 
was  then  taken  in  charge  by  those  who  were  to  cremate 
the  body,  for  the  dead  merchant  was  a  Buddhist. 

A  native  guide  is  indispensable  in  traveling  through 
Japan,  and  they  may  be  had  by  applying  to  the 
Kalyusha,  or  Licensed  Guide  Association.  These 
guides  relieve  one  of  every  care  and  worry  incident 
to  travel.  They  are  always  on  time,  willing  and  ready 
to  serve  their  employer.  They  telegraph  ahead  for 
your  hotel  accommodations  and  when  you  arrive 
coolies  are  waiting  to  take  care  of  your  baggage. 
They  buy  your  railroad  tickets  and  pay  all  your  bills 
for  you.  Each  member  of  the  Association  carries  a 
printed  list  of  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  society, 


"THE    LAND    OF    THE    RISING    SUN"       253 

which  they  are  careful  to  live  up  to,  and  they  are 
pledged  to  serve  those  who  hire  them  to  the  best  of 
their  ability  and  to  charge  no  more  than  the  estab- 
lished fee  which  is  now  two  yen  fifty,  equal  to  $1.25 
per  day  in  our  money. 

Some  of  these  guides  are  poor  interpreters,  but  I 
have  been  very  fortunate  in  this  respect,  for,  on  my 
first  visit  to  Japan,  I  had  Kobe  Tagima  for  a  guide, 
who  was  appointed  by  the  Mikado  to  take  General 
Grant  through  the  country,  as  well  as  the  King  of 
Siam.  He  was  very  intelligent  and  spoke  English 
fluently.  On  my  next  visit  I  had  Oto,  of  Isabel  Bird 
fame,  and  now  I  have  Fujisawa  for  a  guide.  He  is 
not  good  looking,  for  Japanese  men  are  extremely 
homely  and  foreign  clothes  do  not  have  the  effect  of 
improving  their  looks.  On  the  contrary,  they  seem 
to  bring  out  all  their  defects,  and  they  have  no  taste 
in  selecting  them  or  in  wearing  them  either.  I  soon 
discovered,  however,  that  Fujisawa  was  a  good  guide, 
for  he  could  read,  write  and  speak  English  well,  hav- 
ing been  six  years  in  America.  He  had  learned  to 
lift  his  hat  in  foreign  style  and  he  would  apologize 
for  the  low  bowing  of  the  Japanese  and  their  exces- 
sive politeness. 

Bowing  takes  the  place  of  handshaking  in  Japan. 
When  one  is  introduced  to  a  Japanese  lady  or  gentle- 
man, they  place  their  hands  upon  their  knees  and 
bow  two  or  three  times  very  low,  the  men  sucking 
their  breath  between  their  teeth,  with  a  loud,  hissing 


254     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

sound,  which,  though  not  very  pleasant  to  listen  to,  is 
a  token  of  great  respect.  According  to  Griffis'  His- 
tory of  Japan,  the  sucking  of  the  breath  between  the 
teeth  originated  among  the  Samurai,  who  were  the 
military  classes  and  ranked  next  to  the  Daimios,  the 
vassals  of  the  Shoguns  who  ruled  Japan. 

It  so  happened  just  before  leaving  Kobe  that  I  re- 
ceived an  invitation  to  visit  a  rich  merchant's  house 
for  the  purpose  of  seeing  his  garden.  The  whole 
family  met  me  at  the  door,  the  three  servants  fall- 
ing upon  their  knees,  their  foreheads  touching  the 
floor,  while  the  gentleman  and  his  wife  stood  just  be- 
hind them,  the  wife  a  little  back  of  the  husband. 
Each  made  three  low  bows,  and  as  soon  as  the  cover- 
ings I  had  brought  with  me  were  drawn  over  my 
shoes  (for  all  shoes  must  be  removed  or  covered  be- 
fore entering  a  Japanese  house),  I  proceeded  to  fol- 
low my  hosts  within.  The  servants  brought  silken 
cushions  for  us  to  sit  upon  and  I  tried  to  drop  on 
my  knees  and  sit  on  my  heels  as  the  Japanese  do,  but 
I  found  it  a  difficult  matter.  However,  I  was  finally 
seated,  tailor  fashion,  when  my  hosts  gave  three  more 
bows.  Then  tea  and  sweets  were  served  and  each 
servant  as  she  passed  bowed  three  times. 

After  this  we  proceeded  to  visit  the  garden  which 
contained  over  five  hundred  plants  and  trees  though 
they  all  occupied  a  space  not  over  eighty  feet  square. 
It  was  laid  out  like  a  park  and  looked  like  a  doll's  para- 
dise, with  tiny  trees  not  over  six  or  seven  inches  in 


The  Greeting 


Rikisha  Riding 


"THE    LAND    OF    THE    RISING    SUN"       255 

height  growing  on  the  sides  of  miniature  mountains 
and  spread  out  like  forest  trees.  Some  of  them  were 
sixty  years  old,  and  there  were  all  kinds  of  plants 
blooming  in  beds,  many  of  them  not  over  three  inches 
in  height.  Orange  trees  six  inches  in  height  wrere  so 
loaded  with  fruit  it  seemed  as  if  their  limbs  must 
break;  then  there  were  maple  trees  of  about  the  same 
height  with  all  the  autumn  tints.  On  one  of  the 
islands  stood  a  Shinto  temple  on  a  piece  of  ground 
not  larger  than  an  ordinary  dinner  napkin,  with  water- 
falls, moss-grown  rocks,  and  ponds  of  gold  fish.  This 
garden  was  different  from  most  of  the  Japanese  gar- 
dens, few  of  which  have  blooming  plants  in  them. 
The  Japanese  are  wonderful  landscape  gardeners  and 
their  greatest  talent  is  that  of  producing  plants  and 
trees  in  miniature. 

On  our  wray  back  to  the  hotel  we  stopped  to  see  a 
Japanese  school.  The  Japanese  use  the  Chinese  char- 
acters in  printing  their  language  which  they  read  in  a 
singing  wray,  and  it  is  very  amusing  to  visit  a  school 
and  hear  the  pupils  singing  their  lesson.  The  Chinese 
letters  are  very  difficult  to  learn,  for  one  must  have 
a  knowledge  of  from  four  to  eight  thousand  char- 
acters for  ordinary  use,  and  for  the  classics  thirty 
thousand  or  more.  The  Japanese  print  their  alpha- 
bet, which  contains  forty-eight  letters,  besides  the 
Chinese  characters,  for  the  benefit  of  the  illiterate, 
and  the  Japanese  language,  like  the  Chinese,  though 
rich  in  words,  contains  none  for  cursing  or  swear- 


256     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

ing,  and  they  have  no  knowledge  whatever  of  pro- 
fanity. 

Osaka,  the  Chicago  of  Japan,  as  it  has  been  dubbed 
on  account  of  the  progressive  spirit  of  its  people, 
never  before  appeared  so  bustling.  The  hotel  was 
full  of  people,  who,  I  learned,  were  exhibitors  waiting 
for  the  National  Industrial  Exposition  to  be  com- 
pleted, which  for  some  unforeseen  reason  had  been 
delayed.  I,  too,  was  disappointed,  for  I  had  hoped 
to  see  the  Fair,  and  I  was  obliged  to  content  myself 
with  the  kindness  and  overwhelming  politeness  of  Mr. 
Oda,  his  Imperial  Japanese  Majesty's  Commissioner, 
who  presented  me  with  a  permit  to  visit  the  buildings 
and  grounds.  These  buildings  were  all  built  of  staff 
after  foreign  models.  Mr.  Oda  wanted  to  know  what 
I  thought  of  it,  and  I  told  him  that,  as  a  whole,  it 
was  very  artistically  arranged,  but  that  I  would  have 
enjoyed  it  more  had  it  been  purely  Japanese  and  not 
copied  from  the  Paris  Exposition. 

No  large  vessels  call  at  Osaka,  on  account  of  the 
shallow  water  and  sandbars  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Yodogawa  river  which  empties  into  Osaka  Bay,  so 
its  various  commodities  are  loaded  into  boats  and  sent 
twenty  miles  across  the  bay  to  Hiogo  and  Kobe,  its 
seaport.  Two  branches  of  this  river  run  through  the 
city,  intersected  by  innumerable  canals  spanned  by 
hundreds  of  bridges. 

Osaka  is  a  very  old  city  and  the  southern  capital 
of  Japan.  Some  of  its  ancient  landmarks  still  re- 


"THE    LAND   OF    THE    RISING    SUN"       257 

main,  the  greatest  among  them  being  the  castle  built 
in  1583,  by  Hideryoshi,  whose  enterprising  spirit  is 
said  to  have  paved  the  way  for  Osaka's  commercial 
greatness,  for  it  was  during  his  reign  that  most  of  the 
canals  were  dug.  Just  outside  the  castle  walls  is  the 
arsenal,  which  is  very  large  and  was  running  to  its 
fullest  capacity  and  over  hours.  When  I  asked  what 
this  meant,  my  only  answer  was  a  significant  laugh, 
w^hich  I  interpreted  to  mean  that  war  was  expected 
in  the  near  future. 

The  Imperial  Mint  is  the  pride  of  Osaka.  It  is 
large  and  well  equipped  with  modern  machinery  and 
employs  both  men  and  women  who  attend  the  machin- 
ery in  the  different  departments.  Here  are  manu- 
factured the  gold,  silver,  nickel  and  copper  coins  of 
the  country,  but  the  paper  currency  is  manufactured 
at  Tokio  in  an  establishment  called  the  Insatsu 
Kyoku,  an  interesting  place  to  visit. 

Mioksen  of  Osaka  is  the  best  Satsuma  decorator 
in  Japan,  or,  for  that  matter,  in  the  world.  I  once 
visited  his  place  of  business  with  a  party  of  twelve, 
when  he  sent  to  his  kura  (fireproof  warehouse)  and 
brought  all  the  stock  he  had  on  hand.  It  did  not 
amount  to  three  dozen  pieces;  and  when  we  asked  him 
why  he  did  not  enlarge  his  business  and  make  more 
out  of  his  reputation,  he  replied  that  if  he  taught  his 
art  to  others  they  would  set  up  for  themselves  and 
both  his  business  and  reputation  would  be  ruined. 


•  CHAPTER   TWENTY-TWO 

JAPANESE  CUSTOMS  AND  ART 

T)  ABIES,  babies,  where  do  they  all  come  from!  one 
exclaims  when  visiting  Japan,  for  they  never 
seem  to  grow  fewer,  and  you  are  willing  to  wager 
that  the  last  town  you  visited  had  twice  as  many  as 
any  of  the  others,  for  you  hardly  see  a  woman 
without  a  baby  tied  on  her  back,  while  many  of  the 
men  and  nearly  all  the  children  are  burdened  in  the 
same  way,  some  of  the  children  being  not  much  larger 
than  the  babes  they  carry. 

This  method  of  carrying  babies  takes  the  place  of 
crib  and  perambulator  until  the  child  is  old  enough 
to  walk.  They  are  fastened  to  the  back  by  a  long 
strip  of  cloth  wound  several  times  around  them  and 
then  brought  around  the  waist  of  the  person  carrying 
the  child  and  tied  in  front.  These  babies  are  dressed 
in  kimonos,  just  like  their  elders,  only  of  a  much  more 
gorgeous  hue.  They  are  odd  little  bundles  of  human- 
ity but  they  are  cunning  and  quite  captivating, 
though  some  of  them  are  badly  afflicted  with  sore  eyes 
and  heads.  One  in  a  measure  overlooks  this,  for  they 
bear  it  so  patiently,  and  they  are  wonderfully  good 
and  scarcely  ever  cry.  If  they  do,  a  few  extra  jolts 

258 


JAPANESE    CUSTOMS    AND    ART  259 

from  their  carrier  soothes  them,  and  they  resume  the 
even  tenor  of  their  way,  gazing  contentedly  around 
at  the  street  scenes  or  sleeping  soundly  with  their 
heads  rolling  backward,  or  from  side  to  side,  until  it 
seems  as  if  their  little  necks  would  break. 

All  babies  have  their  heads  shaved;  the  boys  until 
they  are  three  years  old,  when  little  tufts  of  hair  are 
permitted  to  grow  over  each  ear  and  at  the  nape  of 
the  neck.  Some  have  little  bare  spots  at  the  crown 
with  a  fringe  of  hair  around  it. 

The  Japanese  cannot  be  called  a  dirty  people,  for 
they  bathe  frequently  in  water  hot  enough  to  cook 
them,  the  temperature  being  usually  from  100°  to 
120°  Fahrenheit.  Their  children,  however,  are  often 
sadly  neglected  along  these  lines,  for  some  of  them 
have  distressingly  dirty  faces;  but  if  at  times  this 
gives  one  a  slight  feeling  of  nausea,  they  are  paragons 
just  the  same,  for  you  never  see  a  disobedient  or 
quarrelsome  child  and  they  all  have  the  dignity  and 
bearing  of  their  elders. 

Japanese  do  not  kiss  and  caress  their  children  as  we 
do;  in  fact,  kissing  is  unknown.  Their  love  is  un- 
demonstrative, but  quite  as  deep  as  ours,  for  no  people 
in  the  world  love  their  children  more  than  they  do; 
they  often  spend  hours  playing  with  them,  they  bujr 
them  innumerable  toys  and  take  them  on  picnic  ex- 
cursions and  never  scold  or  whip  them. 

The  Japanese  marry  from  the  ages  of  sixteen  to 
nineteen,  and  there  seems  to  be  a  Jack  for  every  Jill 


260     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE   WORLD 

in  Japan,  for  one  seldom  sees  an  old  maid  or  bachelor. 
Young  unmarried  men  and  women  do  not  associate 
with  each  other;  they  are  separated  when  children  and 
grow  up  apart,  and  they  are  never  allowed  to  get  ac- 
quainted, for  it  is  considered  vulgar,  a  thing  not  to 
be  thought  of,  for  young  people  to  fall  in  love,  or  have 
any  regard  for  each  other  before  they  are  married. 
So,  when  a  young  man  arrives  at  the  marriageable 
age,  he  goes  to  some  one  of  his  married  friends  and 
asks  him  if  he  and  some  other  married  friend  they 
decide  upon  will  be  "  go-betweens  "  for  him  in  the 
selection  of  a  young  woman  from  among  their  ac- 
quaintances, who  they  believe  will  make  him  a  good 
wife. 

These  friends,  or  "  go-betweens,"  are  willing  to 
shoulder  the  responsibility  of  the  whole  affair  and 
regard  it  as  an  honor  to  be  able  to  serve  a  friend 
in  this  capacity.  They  take  a  parental  interest  in  the 
pair  after  they  are  married  and  try  to  make  their 
wedded  life  a  happy  and  prosperous  one ;  and  in  case 
they  become  divorced,  the  "  go-betweens "  always 
take  an  active  part  in  the  proceedings.  After  the 
selection  has  been  made  the  "  go-betweens  "  speak  to 
the  parents  of  the  young  woman  about  the  suit  of  their 
friend,  and  if  they  do  not  object  to  him  a  party  is 
arranged,  usually  at  the  house  of  one  of  the  "  go- 
betweens,"  and  here  the  young  couple  meet  and  have 
a  chance  to  judge  for  themselves  whether  they  are 
pleased  with  each  other.  If  there  is  no  dissatisfaction 


JAPANESE    CUSTOMS    AND    ART  261 

on  the  part  of  either  after  this  meeting,  the  parents 
of  the  young  man  send  a  present  to  the  young  woman 
and  her  parents  send  a  present  to  the  young  man. 
This  takes  the  place  of  an  engagement,  and  the  "  go- 
betweens  "  then  set  a  date  for  the  wedding  and  attend 
to  all  the  arrangements  for  it. 

On  the  day  of  the  wedding  the  bride's  trousseau  and 
a  certain  number  of  pieces  of  household  furniture 
which  each  bride  must  have,  three  or  four  barrels  of 
"  sake,"  and  a  lot  of  presents  for  the  parents  of  the 
groom,  are  sent  by  the  bride's  parents  to  the  groom's 
father's  house.  Along  about  dark,  the  bride,  dressed 
in  white  with  a  long  veil  enveloping  her  and  accom- 
panied by  her  parents  and  the  "  go-betweens,"  is 
carried  to  the  bridegroom's  father's  house  where  the 
wedding  ceremony  takes  place. 

This  ceremony  is  nothing  more  than  drinking 
"  sake  "  (wine)  according  to  a  long-established  usage, 
and  there  is  no  one  present  but  the  bride  and  bride- 
groom, the  bridesmaids  and  the  "  go-betweens." 
When  the  bride  is  brought  into  the  room  by  the 
bridesmaids,  the  groom,  who  is  seated  on  the  floor, 
does  not  arise  but  keeps  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  floor 
until  the  bride  takes  her  seat  beside  him,  with  the 
bridesmaids  and  "  go-betweens "  on  either  side  of 
the  bridal  couple.  A  small  table  is  then  brought  in 
and  placed  before  the  bride,  and  a  tray  is  set  upon  it 
bearing  three  small  cups  of  different  sizes.  The 
bridesmaids  fill  the  smallest  cup  with  "  sake  "  and 


NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

hand  it  to  the  bride,  who  takes  three  sips  from  it 
and  hands  it  to  the  groom,  who  does  the  same.  The 
other  two  cups  are  filled  and  emptied  in  the  same  way 
and  the  bride  and  groom  then  retire  to  take  off  their 
wedding  garments  and  put  on  reception  dresses. 
The  bride,  however,  keeps  on  her  long  white  veil,  for 
this  will  be  her  burial  robe  some  day.  The  brides- 
maids then  raise  a  two-spouted  tankard  and  present  it 
to  the  lips  of  the  bride  and  the  bridegroom,  who  drink 
from  it  alternately  until  it  is  emptied,  a  ceremony 
symbolic  of  tasting  together  the  joys  and  sorrows  of 
wredded  life.  This  is  the  final  ceremony  and  the  bride 
and  groom  join  the  friends  and  relatives  who  have 
assembled  in  an  adjoining  room  and  congratulations, 
sake-drinking  and  feasting  are  kept  up  until  a  late 
hour. 

As  soon  as  possible  after  the  wedding  the  marriage 
is  registered  at  the  government  registration  office,  the 
only  action  required  in  Japan  to  make  it  legal.  On 
the  third  day  after  the  wedding  the  bride  and  the 
groom  make  a  visit  to  the  parents  of  the  bride,  and 
a  large  party  is  given  to  which  all  the  friends  and  rela- 
tives of  the  two  families  are  invited.  These  festivities 
are  given  in  honor  of  the  bride's  departure  from  her 
father's  house,  for,  from  this  time  forward,  she 
separates  herself  from  her  own  family  and  becomes 
as  much  a  part  of  her  husband's  family  as  if  she  had 
never  known  any  other.  A  man  never  marries  for 
money  in  Japan,  and  it  is  seldom  a  wife  brings  her 


JAPANESE    CUSTOMS    AND    ART  263 

husband  riches,  for  she  cannot  inherit  any  of  her 
father's  property,  and  it  is  not  often  that  a  father 
gives  his  daughter  a  dower  on  her  marriage,  though 
he  may  do  so  if  he  wishes,  but  it  is  not  expected  of 
him.  As  a  rule,  the  property  is  given  to  the  sons. 

Woman's  rank  in  the  social  scale  is  greatly  in- 
ferior to  that  of  the  men.  From  her  babyhood  she  is 
taught  to  be  submissive  and  to  respect  and  obey  the 
head  of  the  house,  be  it  a  father,  a  husband,  a  brother 
or  a  son.  She  is  taught  that  she  must  marry  and  this 
usually  takes  place  when  she  is  sixteen  or  seventeen 
years  old.  From  this  time  on  she  is  nothing  more 
than  a  slave  for  her  husband,  who  treats  her  with  less 
consideration  than  he  would  a  servant,  but  she  never 
complains  of  her  inferior  position,  nor  the  hardness 
of  her  lot;  she  is  sweet,  gentle  and  obedient  under 
all  the  trials  she  has  to  bear. 

If  extreme  sensitiveness  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese 
is  any  indication  that  they  are  beginning  to  realize 
that  there  should  be  a  reform  in  the  evils  of  social 
life  in  Japan,  one  would  think  the  time  is  not  far 
distant  when  they  would  be  corrected ;  for  if  anything 
is  said  or  written  over  here,  either  by  a  foreigner  or  a 
native,  derogatory  to  the  position  of  woman,  the 
Japanese  know  no  bound  to  their  rage,  though  they 
well  know  this  is  one  of  their  weak  points  and  one 
they  are  powerless  to  defend,  and  that  it  is  a  blot  on 
their  progressive  spirit  and  their  higher  civilization. 

Greater  enlightenment  does  not  have  the  effect  of 


NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

diminishing  the  number  of  divorces  in  Japan,  but 
rather  of  increasing  them.  Even  among  the  higher 
classes  there  are  more  than  there  used  to  be,  but  of 
course  there  are  fewer  here  on  account  of  the  scandal 
and  disgrace  usually  connected  with  proceedings  of 
this  kind.  Among  the  lower  classes,  where  there  are 
no  restraining  influences,  men  are  often  married  and 
divorced  seven  or  eight  times  and  women  two  or  three 
times.  Until  the  new  code  was  passed  the  marriage 
tie  could  be  severed  at  the  will  of  either  party,  a  simple 
change  in  the  registration  being  all  that  was  neces- 
sary. While  the  new  code  will  have  to  be  greatly 
amended  before  it  will  have  the  effect  of  improving 
the  condition  of  marriage  and  divorce  to  any  appre- 
ciable extent,  there  has  been  some  falling  off  in  the 
number  of  divorces  among  the  lower  classes  since  it 
was  promulgated.  It  seems  a  little  coercion  goes  a 
long  way  in  Japan. 

Divorces  can  now  be  had  as  formerly,  by  mutual 
agreement  or  through  the  courts,  and  this  is  some 
improvement  over  the  old  way,  for  if  the  parties  fail 
to  agree,  or  if  one  does  not  wish  to  be  divorced,  they 
can  then  arrange  a  judiciary  divorce.  The  law  still 
gives  the  children  to  the  father,  and  this  is  one  of  the 
most  deplorable  things  about  divorce  in  Japan. 
Sometimes  it  is  possible  for  a  woman  to  arrange  with 
her  husband  for  the  custody  of  her  children,  but  it  is 
seldom  she  is  able  to  support  them,  and  a  man  in 
Japan  cannot  be  made  to  support  his  children  if  they 


JAPANESE    CUSTOMS    AND   ART  265 

are  taken  away  from  him,  or  help  his  divorced  wife 
either;  she  must  go  back  to  her  relatives  and  depend 
upon  them  for  support. 

The  Japanese  have  a  topsy-turvy  way  of  doing 
things,  just  the  opposite  to  what  we  do.  For  in- 
stance, they  build  the  roof  of  the  house  first  upon  the 
ground,  then  the  other  parts,  raise  the  roof  and  put 
it  together.  Foot  notes  are  put  at  the  top  of  the 
page  and  locks  are  put  in  the  jamb  instead  of  on  the 
door.  They  have  a  rather  clever  way  of  addressing 
a  letter;  the  country  is  written  first,  then  the  state, 
next  the  street  and  number  and  the  name  last  of  all. 
They  mount  a  horse  from  the  right  and  a  vehicle 
turns  to  the  left  instead  of  to  the  right  as  with  us. 
Horses  are  hitched  in  their  stalls  tail  first,  napkins 
are  made  of  paper  and  white  is  worn  for  mourning. 

A  great  change  had  taken  place  in  Japan  during 
the  three  years  since  I  last  visited  it.  Prices  had 
advanced  greatly,  most  of  the  large  stores  had  adopted 
the  one-price  system,  and  the  soroban,  the  Japanese 
counting  board,  was  not  so  much  used  as  heretofore. 
Railroad  fares  had  advanced  one  sen,  first  class  is  now 
four  sen  a  mile,  second  class  three,  and  third  class  two. 
The  yen  is  equal  to  fifty  cents  of  our  money  and  it  is 
divided  into  a  hundred  sen;  so  a  sen  is  a  half  cent  of 
our  money. 

Another  innovation  was  porters  in  blue  uniforms 
on  the  railroad  trains,  and  such  a  nuisance  they  were. 
They  fairly  drove  me  distracted,  for  they  wanted  to 


266       NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

brush  me  off  every  five  minutes,  because  they  were 
under  the  impression  that  this  was  the  way  our  porters 
did.  I  tried  to  explain  to  them  what  we  expected  of 
a  porter,  but  they  would  not  listen  to  me,  for  some 
Japanese,  who  had  traveled  in  America,  had  given 
them  instructions  and  they  wanted  me  to  understand 
that  Japanese  were  not  behind  the  world  even  in  the 
matter  of  brushing  railroad  passengers'  clothes. 

Kioto  is  the  ancient  capital  and  here  the  Mikado 
lived  until  the  Restoration,  when  he  moved  to  Tokio. 
These  cities  are  now  designated  as  the  eastern  and 
western  capitals.  The  Japanese  still  love  the  more 
ancient  capital  and  many  of  them  regret  that  the 
Emperor  has  permanently  taken  up  his  residence  at 
Tokio.  The  great  palace  where  he  lived  has  lost  none 
of  its  sacredness  in  their  estimation  because  of  his 
absence,  and  it  is  surprising  to  see  the  reverential  air 
they  assume  when  they  enter  it,  for  they  believe  that 
all  of  their  emperors  were  of  divine  origin. 

The  palace  is  situated  in  a  large  park,  and  none  of 
the  gates  are  open  now  except  the  gate  of  the 
"  August  Kitchen  " ;  and  here  I  entered,  to  be  shown 
through  the  building  by  two  solemn-faced  Japs,  who 
wore  pleated  trousers  and  silk  kimonos,  the  ancient 
court  dress.  In  the  great  audience  room,  or  The  Cool 
and  Pure  Hall,  is  a  new  throne,  which  the  Emperor 
used  after  the  Restoration.  A  white  silk  canopy 
covers  the  throne  which  is  a  red  lacquered  chair,  with 
a  back  shaped  like  a  torii.  A  lacquered  stool  stood 


JAPANESE    CUSTOMS    AND    ART  267 

on  either  side  for  the  sacred  sword  and  seal,  the  in- 
signia of  the  Emperor,  and  in  another  room  was  a 
white  silk  tent  that  covered  the  old  throne,  which  is 
now  in  the  museum  at  Tokio.  When  the  Emperor 
held  his  audiences  he  sat  inside  the  tent  on  a  matting 
throne,  with  the  curtains  drawn  around,  and  nothing 
was  seen  of  him ;  only  his  voice  being  heard.  In  one 
of  the  corners  of  the  room  was  about  a  yard  square  of 
cement  floor,  on  which  fresh  earth  was  placed  every 
morning,  in  order  that  the  Emperor  could  worship  his 
ancestors  on  earth  without  descending  to  the  ground. 
There  is  no  furniture  in  the  palace  nor  is  it  heated. 
The  Mikados  warmed  themselves  over  a  few  coals  in 
a  hibachi  or  fire-box,  just  as  the  peasants  do  now.  In 
the  winter  the  palace  is  cold  and  dreary  looking,  and 
in  the  summer  it  is  hot  and  dreary  looking — there  is 
not  a  cozy  nook  or  corner  about  it. 

Less  than  a  mile  from  the  palace  is  Xijo  castle, 
built  by  the  feudal  lords,  who  lived  there  in  great 
splendor.  It  is  a  blaze  of  magnificence  from  floor  to 
ceiling  for  neither  labor  nor  money  was  spared  in  its 
decorations.  The  screens  were  covered  with  gold  and 
painted  by  the  old  artists  in  most  fantastic  design ;  and 
the  same  richness  of  decoration  is  carried  out  in  all 
the  rooms  throughout  the  castle.  Only  the  inner  part 
of  the  great  fortress  is  perfect,  much  of  the  building 
having  been  destroyed  by  fire  and  earthquakes. 

Kioto  is  also  the  more  interesting  because  it  is  less 
foreignized  and  the  most  Japanese  of  all  the  cities. 


268      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

Weeks  can  be  spent  here  it  is  so  fascinating ;  for  if  it 
it  is  not  one  thing  it  is  another,  and  one  never  becomes 
satiated.  The  shops  are  especially  enticing  and  you 
are  apt  to  spend  much  of  your  time  in  them,  for  there 
is  no  end  to  the  beautiful  things  they  display,  partic- 
ularly in  embroideries  of  the  most  exquisite  designs, 
— an  art  in  which  the  Japanese  excel. 

Nammikawa,  the  first  cloisonne  artist  of  the  pres- 
ent time,  has  his  workshop  in  Kioto,  and  the  most 
beautiful  bronzes  in  Japan  can  be  bought  there  also. 
There  are  whole  streets  of  porcelain  bazaars  and  the 
largest  silk  stores  in  Japan,  where  one  can  find  a 
splendid  assortment  of  Kioto  crepes  and  brocades 
for  which  the  city  is  so  famous,  as  well  as  all  kinds  of 
foreign  silks,  and  there  are  shops  filled  with  wonder- 
ful fans,  ivory  carvings,  damosening,  bamboo  work 
and  all  kinds  of  curios. 

It  would  take  a  volume  to  describe  the  temples  in 
and  around  Kioto,  for  they  are  almost  innumerable. 
The  new  temple  of  the  rich  Monto  Buddhist  sect  is 
the  largest  and  grandest ;  it  was  only  completed  a  few 
years  ago  and  cost  a  vast  amount  of  money  though 
much  of  the  material  used  in  its  construction  was 
donated.  A  small  army  of  the  best  artists  in  the 
country  worked  for  three  years  decorating  the  in- 
terior, which  is  rich  in  carvings,  gold  and  lacquer 
work. 


CHAPTER   TWENTY-THREE 

THE    INTERIOR    OF    JAPAN 

T  T  was  in  Kioto,  the  first  time  I  visited  Japan,  that 
•*•  I  was  invited  to  a  Japanese  dinner  given  in  honor 
of  Thomas  Cook  &  Son's  round-the-world  parties, 
an  English  firm  with  headquarters  in  London  and 
offices  in  nearly  every  town  and  city  throughout  the 
world.  They  were  the  first  in  the  tourist  business, 
and  their  service  is  a  great  boon  to  travelers.  No  one 
knows  this  better  than  I  for  I  have  traveled  more 
miles  with  their  tickets  than  any  other  woman. 

It  was  the  first  of  these  parties  I  had  ever  met. 
They  were  all  delightful  people,  as  jolly  as  could  be, 
with  nothing  to  do  but  enjoy  themselves,  for  they 
were  relieved  of  all  the  cares  and  responsibilities  of 
travel  by  their  able  conductor.  Among  them  was  Dr. 
Warner,  of  corset  fame,  from  New  York  City,  who 
was  traveling  with  his  wife  and  daughter ;  a  Mr.  Cal- 
lendar,  also  of  New  York,  a  retired  millionaire  who 
was  collecting  curios  for  a  Southern  college;  Dr. 
Little  of  Glens  Falls,  New  York,  a  scientist  and  nat- 
uralist, who  had  traveled  all  over  the  world  with  his 
patients ;  a  Mr.  Van  Curan  of  Newburg,  New  York, 
another  retired  millionaire ;  a  Reverend  Dr.  Miller  of 
London,  England,  who  had  served  his  congregation 

269 


270     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

for  twenty-five  years,  and  who  for  his  faithful  service 
was  sent  around  the  world  to  enjoy  a  well-earned  rest ; 
a  Mr.  Ely  of  London,  a  young  Oxford  graduate,  who 
was  traveling  around  the  world  to  add  a  finishing 
touch  to  his  education;  Baron  Von  Rubenskirk  of 
Austria  and  Count  Segery  of  Germany,  who  devoted 
their  lives  to  traveling  for  recreation. 

The  dinner  was  given  in  one  of  the  largest  tea 
houses  in  Kioto,  which  are  all  alike  except  that  some 
are  larger  than  others.  We  were  met  at  the  entrance 
by  a  number  of  nesans,  or  house  servants,  who  took 
off  our  shoes  and  we  followed  them  stockingfooted 
upstairs  to  a  large  room  where  the  dinner  was  served. 

-  wMrrV? 

Our  seats  were  red  silk  cushions  laid  on  the  floor,  so 
arranged  that  the  guests  faced  each  other.  Before 
each  guest  was  a  tabako  bon  holding  a  tiny  hibachi 
with  live  coals  in  a  cone  of  ashes,  and  a  section  of  a 
bamboo  stem  for  an  ash  receiver.  Then  came  the  tea 
and  sweets  which  always  precede  a  Japanese  dinner ; 
and  next  the  nesans  set  in  front  of  each  guest  an 
ozen,  or  table  about  five  inches  high,  on  which  stood 
a  covered  China  bowl  and  a  long  envelope  containing 
a  pair  of  chop-sticks.  Our  host  opened  his  envelope 
and  broke  apart  his  chop-sticks,  for  they  were  only 
split  half  way  down,  to  show  they  had  never  been  used 
before,  and  then  lifted  the  cover  from  his  bowl,  and 
this  was  the  signal  that  the  feast  had  commenced. 

It  is  not  an  easy  matter  for  foreigners  to  use  chop- 
sticks, for  the  art  is  not  acquired  in  a  few  minutes. 


THE  INTERIOR    OF    JAPAN  271 

Our  host  kindly  gave  us  many  pointers  and  showed 
us  how  he  used  his,  but  the  more  we  tried  the  more 
they  would  wobble,  bobble  and  cross  and  the  food  fell 
almost  anywhere,  but  it  was  lots  of  fun  trying  to  use 
them  and  we  all  enjoyed  it  hugely. 

A  Japanese  dinner  is  a  long-drawn-out  affair  and 
it  takes  a  great  deal,  of  patience  and  endurance  to  sit 
on  one's  knees  or  tailor  fashion  on  the  floor  in  stocking- 
feet  for  five  hours,  but  this  was  a  more  elaborate 
dinner  than  usual  and  there  were  twelve  courses  in  all. 
There  were  five  kinds  of  cooked  and  raw  fish  eaten 
with  soy,  the  Japanese  sauce  made  from  beans,  four 
kinds  of  soup,  three  kinds  of  chicken,  rice  curry,  lily 
bulbs,  bamboo  sprouts,  egg  plant  with  different  kinds 
of  vegetables  cooked  with  them,  and  the  last  course 
was  sponge  cake  with  sweets  and  a  tastefully  ar- 
ranged basket  of  sweets  as  a  souvenir.  Hot  sake  was 
served  with  each  course.  This  is  the  Japanese  wine 
made  from  rice,  and  is  drunk  as  healths,  and  you 
must  rise  during  the  dinner  and  drink  the  health  of 
your  host  and  each  of  the  guests,  lifting  your  little 
sake  cup  to  your  forehead  in  salutation  each  time, 
then  emptying  it  in  three  sips.  It  is  customary  also 
to  drink  the  health  of  each  of  the  nesans  or  waitresses, 
who  bow  their  heads  to  the  floor  in  acknowledgment 
of  the  compliment. 

When  several  courses  had  been  served  three  geishas 
entered,  knelt  on  the  mats  and  commenced  to  play  the 
samisen,  koto  and  tzuzumi  or  drum,  and  sing  to  the 


272     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE   WORLD 

accompaniment,  when  presently  six  more  geishas,  the 
most  famous  professional  dancers  and  singers  in 
Kioto,  entered.  They  all  wore  beautiful  silk  crepe 
kimonos  and  obis  of  the  richest  silver  brocade,  and 
waved  exquisite  fans  of  silver  and  gold  most  fanci- 
fully decorated.  Their  jet  black  hair  was  a  tower 
of  silky  puffs  with  many  fancy  pins  stuck  through 
them,  but  their  faces  were  expressionless,  for  they 
were  covered  with  coat  after  coat  of  white  paint.  At 
the  nape  of  their  necks  were  three  little  diamond 
shaped  patches,  called  "beauty  patches,"  made  by 
leaving  their  natural  yellowish  skin  unpowdered. 
Often  a  narrow  band  is  left  along  the  forehead  next 
the  hair  in  the  same  way.  They  all  had  charming 
manners  and  between  the  courses  they  would  sit 
around  on  the  floor  among  the  guests  and  smile,  tell 
little  stories  and  fill  the  sake  cups.  The  dancers  were 
quite  pretty  but  there  was  a  great  sameness  to  them 
and  after  two  or  three  we  did  not  care  for  them. 

The  musical  training  of  these  girls  is  a  long  and 
tedious  one,  but  their  musical  accomplishments  are 
only  appreciated  by  the  Japanese,  for  it  is  almost  im- 
possible for  foreigners  to  detect  the  slightest  melody, 
time  or  tune  in  their  playing  on  the  samisen.  The 
vocal  part  of  their  musical  education  consists  in  ac- 
quiring a  peculiar,  high  squeal,  which  is  the  principal 
note  in  it,  and  to  do  this,  according  to  Hearn,  "  in  the 
coldest  hour  of  the  winter  night  she  must  ascend  to 
the  roof  of  her  dwelling  house  and  there  play  until 


A  Japanese  Tea  House  and  Garden 


(reishas  Dancing  to  Samisen  Music 


THE  INTERIOR    OF    JAPAN  273 

the  blood  oozes  from  her  fingers  and  her  voice  dies  in 
her  throat.  The  desired  result  is  an  atrocious  cold. 
After  a  period  of  hoarse  whisperings  her  voice  changes 
its  tone  and  strengthens;  she  is  now  ready  to  become 
a  public  singer  and  dancer." 

They  commence  their  career  young,  at  the  age  of 
thirteen  or  fourteen,  and  they  never  lack  for  engage- 
ments, for  no  Japanese  entertainment,  public  or 
private,  is  considered  complete  without  them.  They 
are  not  all  bad  but  their  training  is  such  it  does  not 
tend  to  keep  them  virtuous,  as  they  associate  only 
with  men  and  they  are  taught  only  to  make  themselves 
fascinating  and  pleasing  to  this  sex.  There  are  more 
in  Kioto  than  anywhere  else,  where  they  take  part  in 
the  two  great  festivals,  the  Cherry  Blossom  and  the 
Maple,  which  take  place  in  the  spring  and  fall. 

I  once  attended  a  Cherry  Blossom  festival,  which 
commences  in  April  and  lasts  three  weeks.  There 
were  about  one  hundred  geishas,  eighty  of  whom  were 
drummers  and  samisen  players,  and  they  all  wore 
gorgeous  kimonos.  These  girls  never  wear  jewelry 
but  their  costumes  often  represent  a  small  fortune. 
The  musicians  were  arranged  on  either  side  of  the 
theater  and  when  the  grand  overture  was  played  it 
sounded  as  if  pandemonium  had  broken  loose ;  it  was 
simply  ear  splitting;  but  as  I  have  said  before,  for- 
eigners do  not  appreciate  Japanese  music. 

The  theater  was  brilliantly  lighted  with  electricity, 
and  the  stage  was  made  pretty  by  means  of  some 


mechanical  arrangement  behind  the  scenes  which  let 
down  cherry  boughs,  laden  with  bloom,  over* the  heads 
of  the  dancers  so  that  they  danced  in  a  bower  of 
flowers ;  then  maple  boughs  with  all  the  autumn  color- 
ing, were  let  down  in  the  same  way,  all  made  of  paper 
but  quite  as  eff ective  as  if  they  had  been  real.  At  the 
top  of  the  stage  were  a  lot  of  twinkling  lights  that 
looked  like  stars.  The  dancing  was  a  pantomimic 
play  of  the  song  of  the  Cherry  Blossoms,  sung  by  the 
geishas  to  a  samisen  accompaniment,  and  the  dances 
themselves  were  a  lot  of  graceful  poses,  in  which  the 
dancers  waved  their  long  sleeves  and  golden  fans  in 
time  to  the  music.  We  entered  the  theater  through 
an  anteroom  where  one  of  the  geishas  went  through 
the  ancient  tea  ceremonial.  It  was  very  odd  and  in- 
comprehensible, we  were  all  served  with  strong  tea  and 
sweets  and  the  people  sat  in  little  boxes  or  pens  on  the 
floor,  drank  tea  and  sake,  and  smoked,  hardly  looking 
at  the  performance  at  all. 

This  was  the  prettiest  theater  I  had  seen  in  Japan 
but  they  are  all  common  compared  to  ours.  I  wras 
greatly  disappointed  with  the  first  one  I  visited — 
it  was  Danjuro's  at  Tokio — for  I  had  supposed  this 
great  artist  would  have  a  theater  which,  for  oriental 
splendor,  could  not  be  equaled  in  the  world ;  but  to  my 
surprise  it  was  very  plain  with  a  rough,  unfinished 
appearance.  It  was  divided,  as  they  all  are,  into  little 
square  boxes  or  pens,  the  floor  was  covered  with  mat- 
ting with  a  red  blanket  thrown  over  it,  and  that 


THE  INTERIOR    OF   JAPAN  275 

was  what  we  sat  on.  There  were  no  dressing  rooms 
near  the  stage  for  the  actors ;  they  were  in  the  front  of 
the  building  and  the  performers  went  to  them  by  a 
kind  of  passageway  over  the  heads  of  the  audience. 
Danjuro  spoke  in  a  very  unnatural  voice  and  did  a 
good  deal  of  ranting  and  roaring,  which  was  not  very 
pleasing  to  those  who  did  not  understand  the  plot  of 
the  play.  He  wore  splendid  costumes  made  from  old 
brocades  and  embroideries,  which  we  had  a  good 
chance  to  see  as  he  walked  to  and  from  his  dressing 
room. 

One  of  the  most  charming  excursions  from  Kioto 
is  to  Lake  Biwa,  one  of  the  largest  and  prettiest  lakes 
in  Japan.  The  legend  is  that  this  lake  came  into 
existence  many  centuries  ago  in  a  single  night,  and 
that  Fujiyama,  the  sacred  mountain,  three  hundred 
miles  away,  rose  at  the  same  time.  The  Biwa  pine 
tree  that  grows  near  the  shore  of  this  lake  is  one  of  the 
most  wonderful  trees  in  the  world.  It  is  four  hun- 
dred years  old  and  its  boughs  have  been  twisted  and 
bent  until  they  spread  over  an  acre  of  ground.  They 
are  held  up  by  posts,  and  its  trunk  is  five  feet  in  diam- 
eter and  sixteen  feet  in  height. 

The  return  journey  is  by  a  canal  through  three 
tunnels  in  the  mountains.  These  tunnels  are  very 
small  and  barely  wide  enough  for  two  sampans  to  pass 
easily,  and  so  low  you  cannot  stand  up  in  the  boat. 
The  only  light  is  a  little  lantern  in  the  bow,  so  small 
that  a  Javanese  lightning  bug  would  be  power  beside 


276     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE   WORLD 

it.  You  have  a  strange  feeling  in  these  dark,  sub- 
terranean passages,  a  sense  of  chilliness  creeps  along 
your  spine,  the  cold  sweat  comes  out  on  your  forehead 
and  you  are  told  to  sing  to  hear  the  echo;  but  the 
creaking  of  a  little  sampan  is  harrowing  enough  to 
your  feelings  without  your  producing  any  more 
strange  noises.  You  have  a  sense  of  relief  when  you 
are  once  more  in  the  daylight,  but  the  tunnels  are  very 
novel  and  well  worth  going  through  once  at  least.  I 
know  of  no  others  like  them ;  and  it  always  seemed  to 
me  they  were  built  as  a  habitation  for  the  Japanese 
dragon  rather  than  for  commercial  purposes. 

The  Yaami  is  a  beautifully  situated  hotel,  on  what 
is  known  as  Eastern  or  Buddha  hill.  From  here  a 
good  view  is  to  be  had  of  Kioto.  It  was  a  comfort- 
able place  and  I  regretfully  said  my  "  sayonaras  " 
(good-by)  to  the  pleasant-faced  proprietor,  who 
bowed  half  a  dozen  times  as  I  took  my  departure  for 
Nara.  It  was  a  cold,  rainy  morning  and  the  only 
heat  in  the  railroad  coaches  was  warming  pans  filled 
with  hot  water  and  laid  along  the  center  of  the  first 
class  coaches ;  the  water  soon  gets  cold  and  a  bundle  of 
rugs  must  be  taken  along  to  wrap  up  in  and  keep 
warm.  At  the  stations  where  you  change  cars  a  long 
stairway  must  be  ascended  from  the  train  in  which 
you  arrive  through  a  covered  bridge  and  descended  to 
the  other  train.  This  is  no  doubt  a  safe  way  and  pre- 
vents many  accidents  but  it  is  tedious  to  those  not  ac- 
customed to  it. 


THE  INTERIOR    OF    JAPAN  277 

Nara  is  one  of  the  loveliest  places  in  Japan;  but 
on  this  rainy,  foggy  day  it  looked  forlorn  enough,  for 
it  was  wrapped  in  an  almost  impenetrable  gloom.  It 
is  prettiest  in  the  spring,  when  the  wistarias  are  in 
bloom,  and  its  old  cryptamera  forests  are  covered  with 
these  vines,  which  have  woven  and  interwoven  them- 
selves in  and  around  them  for  centuries.  In  May, 
when  they  are  in  full  bloom,  great  bunches  of  purple 
and  white  flowers  hang  everywhere  from  their  trunks 
and  branches. 

Nara  is  very  ancient  for  it  was  the  capital  of  Japan 
from  708  to  782.  The  legend  is  that  the  founder  of 
Nara  rode  on  a  deer  when  he  went  to  select  a  place  for 
his  habitation;  and  ever  since  that  time  deer  have 
roamed  here  at  will  and  it  is  a  great  deer  park.  They 
are  innocent-looking  little  creatures  but  they  approach 
strangers  timidly,  and  beg  for  little  cakes  which  are 
sold  in  booths  along  the  wayside.  The  city  has  some 
wonderful  antiquities;  among  them  the  oldest  Bud- 
dist  temple  in  Japan,  founded  more  than  twelve  cen- 
turies ago,  the  place  where  the  Buddhists  first  settled 
when  this  religion  was  brought  into  the  country  from 
India  by  way  of  China  and  Korea.  The  colossal  Dai 
Butsu,  the  largest  in  the  country  was  cast  and  put  in 
the  temple  in  750.  It  is  fifty-four  feet  in  height  and 
seated  on  a  lotus  pedestal.  The  whole  image  was 
once  gilded  but  the  gilding  has  worn  off,  leaving  the 
face  very  dark ;  and  it  does  not  have  the  placid,  serene, 
Nirvana  countenance  of  the  Kamakura  Dai  Butsu. 


278     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE   WORLD 

In  one  of  Nara's  prettiest  cryptemara  groves  stands 
Kasuga,  a  large  Shinto  temple;  and  in  one  of  the 
pavilions  of  this  temple  the  sacred  dances  are  given 
by  some  young  girls,  called  priestesses,  the  daughters 
of  the  priests  of  the  temples.  They  appear  in  painted 
faces  and  flowing  robes  of  red  and  white,  their  hair 
parted  in  the  middle  and  trimmed  with  flowers  and 
tinseled  hairpins  hangs  down  their  backs,  and  they 
hold  tinkling  bells  aloft  as  they  dance  to  the  music  of  a 
drum,  a  squeaky  old  flute  and  a  koto.  There  is  no 
enumerating  the  stone  lanterns  that  stand  in  row  after 
row  along  the  avenue  and  around  the  temples  of  Nara ; 
they  are  all  finely  executed  and  most  of  them  are 
eleven  centuries  old. 

Fujisawa,  my  guide,  was  devout  and  on  several  oc- 
casions when  we  visited  temples  he  said  a  prayer  be- 
fore the  shrines,  but  never  once  did  he  buy  a  prayer, 
chew  it  to  a  pulp,  make  a  ball  of  it,  and  throw  it  at  the 
gods,  as  many  of  the  Japanese  do.  If  it  sticks  they 
believe  their  prayers  will  be  answered,  if  it  falls  they 
try  again.  He  was  anxious  for  me  to  visit  Ise  for  the 
Chinese  New  Year,  for  many  of  the  Japanese  believe 
if  they  go  there  at  this  time  they  will  be  benefited  both 
spiritually  and  bodily.  The  Emperor  abolished  the 
Chinese  calendar  more  than  thirty  years  ago  and 
ordered  the  Gregorian  used ;  but  in  this  sacred  locality 
they  still  celebrate  the  Chinese  New  Year,  which  took 
place  in  1903  on  January  28th.  Ise  is  the  name  of  a 
province  and  Yamada  is  the  town  near  which  the  two 


THE  INTERIOR    OF    JAPAN  279 

famous  Shinto  temples  are  situated  which  have  caused 
this  place  to  be  known  as  the  Mecca  of  Japan. 

The  train  to  Yamada  was  slow  and  several  hours 
behind  time,  and  we  did  not  reach  there  until  after 
dark.  The  hotel  is  more  than  two  miles  from  the  rail- 
road station  and  none  of  the  streets  were  lighted. 
The  coolies  were  the  fleetest  that  ever  drew  a  riksha; 
they  dashed  through  the  darkness  at  a  frightful  rate, 
shouting  at  the  top  of  their  voices  for  the  people  to 
get  out  of  their  way.  The  rikshas  went  into  ruts  first 
on  one  side  and  then  on  the  other,  and  I  was  obliged 
to  hold  on  with  all  my  strength  to  keep  from  being 
thrown  out.  The  last  dash  was  up  a  steep  hill,  three 
hundred  feet  in  height,  and  around  a  sharp  curve 
where  we  landed  at  the  Gonikwai  Hotel,  and  I 
breathed  more  easily  and  attributed  my  good  luck  in 
not  getting  my  neck  broken  to  being  in  the  Holy 
City. 

The  entrance  to  the  hotel  was  through  a  portico 
brilliantly  lighted  with  electricity.  The  two  little 
daughters  of  the  manager,  dressed  in  fancy  kimonos 
and  with  obis  tied  in  butterfly  bows  on  their  backs,  and 
the  three  housemaids  dropped  on  their  knees,  placed 
their  hands  on  the  matting  and  touched  the  floor  with 
their  foreheads  as  I  entered.  The  manager  also  ap- 
peared, placed  his  hands  on  his  knees  and  gave  me 
three  very  low  bows,  and  the  maids  then  drew  the 
covering  over  my  shoes,  for  the  floor  was  polished 
*mtil  it  shone  like  a  looking  glass,  and  assisted  me  up 


the  stairs  to  the  second  story.  The  stairs  were  polished 
like  the  floor  and  very  steep  and  narrow,  and  there 
were  no  banisters  or  railings  to  hold  to.  I  often  won- 
dered how  I  would  get  down  them  in  case  the  hotel 
took  fire,  and  they  were  a  nightmare  to  me  as  long  as 
I  stayed  there. 

There  were  two  dining  rooms,  one  for  the  Japanese 
and  the  other  for  foreigners.  My  table  was  covered 
with  a  fine,  white  linen  cloth,  and  in  the  center  was  a 
bouquet  of  red  and  white  camelias.  The  first  course 
was  a  vegetable  soup,  then  baked  carp ;  after  this  roast 
beef  from  Kobe,  or  a  province  near  Kobe,  was  served, 
and  it  was  quite  as  good  as  Chicago  beef.  Birds  on 
toast  followed  this  course,  then  a  lettuce  salad;  two 
kinds  of  vegetables  were  served  with  each  meat  course 
and,  lastly,  dessert,  a  sweet  omelette,  sponge  cake  and 
tea. 

The  Gonikwai  Hotel  is  the  finest  real  Japanese 
hotel  in  the  country;  it  is  beautifully  situated  and 
from  its  upper  windows  and  from  the  hill  on  which 
it  stands,  a  good  view  is  to  be  had  of  Owari  Bay, 
many  green  islands  and  half  a  dozen  towns.  It  was 
built  by  a  stock  company  in  order  that  the  Emperor 
might  have  a  comfortable  stopping  place  when  he 
came  to  Ise  to  worship  his  ancestors.  The  manager, 
very  proudly,  showed  me  the  Emperor's  room,  about 
ten  feet  from  where  I  was  domiciled,  and  assured  me 
it  was  built  just  like  the  room  he  occupied  in  the  palace 
at  Tokio.  It  was  raised  about  a  foot  and  a  half  from 


^f 


o 

a. 


THE  INTERIOR    OF    JAPAN  281 

the  floor ;  the  door  slid  back  so  I  had  a  full  view  of  the 
room,  but  when  the  door  was  closed  the  room  was 
just  like  a  box,  for  there  were  no  windows  nor  any 
way  of  ventilating  it.  It  was  about  ten  feet  square 
and  six  high ;  the  floor  was  covered  with  matting,  and 
the  sliding  doors  had  sunken  brass  knobs  with  red 
tassels  hanging  from  them,  like  those  in  the  palace  at 
Kioto.  The  ceilings  were  decorated  with  the  sacred 
white  storks,  and  at  the  sides  and  back  of  this  room 
were  smaller  rooms  for  the  Imperial  bodyguards,  for 
his  sacred  body  is  never  out  of  their  sight,  day  or 
night.  When  he  comes  to  Yamada  he  brings  his  silken 
futons  and  wooden  pillow  and  sleeps  on  the  floor  in 
the  Japanese  style  and  rides  around  in  a  riksha  like 
an  ordinary  individual. 


CHAPTER   TWENTY-FOUR 

SOME  SACRED  SPOTS  OF  JAPAN 

T  N  opposite  directions  on  the  outskirts  of  Yamada, 
•••  about  two  miles  apart,  stand  the  Naiku  and  Geku 
temples,  the  most  sacred  of  any  of  the  Shinto  temples 
in  Japan.  They  are  so  sacred  that  none  but  priests 
and  the  royal  family  are  allowed  to  so  much  as  enter 
the  outer  walls  that  surround  them.  The  Shinto  re- 
ligion does  not  allow  anything  but  the  plainest  archi- 
tectural simplicity  in  the  erection  of  its  temples,  which 
are  built  of  white  wood,  unpainted  and  with  thatched 
roofs.  There  are  no  interior  decorations  belonging  to 
them,  but  they  are  profusely  decorated  on  the  outside 
with  brass. 

The  great  antiquity  of  Ise's  temples  is  only  a  his- 
torical continuity,  for  a  very  ancient  custom  decrees 
that  they  must  be  razed  to  the  ground  every  twenty 
years  and  rebuilt  in  exactly  the  same  style.  The  new 
temples  are  built  before  the  old  ones  are  torn  down 
and  a  great  ceremonial  takes  place  when  the  sacred 
emblems  are  transferred  to  the  new  edifices.  Ise's 
temples  were  last  rebuilt  in  1889,  and  the  wood  of  the 
old  temples  was  made  into  sacred  emblems  and  sold 
to  the  faithful.  There  are  two  sites  for  these  temples 
about  one  hundred  yards  apart. 


SOME    SACRED    SPOTS    OF    JAPAN          283 

The  temple  of  Xaiku  is  dedicated  to  the  Sun  God- 
dess Ama-terasu,  from  whom  all  the  Mikados  are 
descended.  The  mirror  in  this  temple,  the  emblem 
of  the  Sun  Goddess,  differs  widely  from  the  round 
mirror  seen  in  other  Shinto  temples,  and  it  is  never 
exposed  to  view.  It  is  said  to  be  a  likeness  of  the  Sun 
Goddess  and  to  have  been  sent  to  earth  by  herself;  and 
it  is  held  in  such  high  veneration  that  it  is  often  wor- 
shiped as  a  deity. 

Geku,  the  other  great  Ise  shrine,  is  dedicated  to 
Toyo-uke-bime,  the  Goddess  of  Food.  This  temple 
is  beautifully  situated  in  a  grove  of  cryptemara, 
camphor  and  maple  trees,  with  a  wide  and  pretty  ave- 
nue that  leads  to  it  lined  with  stalls  where  food  is  sold 
to  the  pilgrims.  In  a  long  pavilion  near  this  avenue 
the  sacred  dances  are  given  by  a  lot  of  priestesses  and 
the  stall  where  the  sacred  white  horse  is  kept  is  near 
here,  but  the  pilgrims  buy  and  feed  him  so  many  sa- 
cred beans  his  stall  has  to  be  closed  to  keep  him  from 
being  killed. 

Before  daylight  on  New  Year's  morning  I  was 
awakened  by  the  firing  of  cannon  from  the  two  men- 
of-war  which  lay  at  anchor  in  Owari  Bay  before  Ya- 
mada.  All  day  at  intervals  they  fired  salutes  and 
both  were  gayly  bedecked  with  flags  and  banners  for 
the  occasion.  In  front  of  the  houses  and  shops  along 
the  streets  hung  new  straw  ropes  with  pieces  of  white 
paper  hanging  from  them,  the  emblems  of  Shintoism. 
There  were  also  many  Japanese  flags,  great  red  discs 


284      NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

on  a  white  ground,  and  the  streets  were  crowded  with 
people  from  early  morning  until  the  next  morning 
going  to  and  from  the  temples.  There  were  thou- 
sands of  pilgrims  besides  the  inhabitants  of  six  neigh- 
boring towns.  The  nearest  any  of  them  got  to  the 
sacred  edifices  was  the  gate  of  the  main  entrances 
which  had  been  withdrawn  and  a  white  curtain  hung 
before  the  opening.  The  faithful  worshippers,  who 
had  walked  hundreds  of  miles  to  be  here  at  this  time, 
were  allowed  to  stand  within  four  feet  of  this  gate, 
clap  their  hands,  say  a  prayer,  drop  their  offering  and 
depart.  It  would  have  been  death  for  any  of  them  to 
have  touched  those  curtains. 

For  lifting  with  his  walking  stick  the  curtain  which 
hides  Geku's  shrine  from  the  public  gaze,  and  remark- 
ing as  he  did  so,  "  Why  should  I  bow  to  such  foolish 
superstitions; — if  there  is  anything  behind  this  cur- 
tain worth  seeing,  I  want  to  see  it,"  Viscount  Mori 
lost  his  life.  He  was  a  remarkably  clever  man,  once 
the  Japanese  representative  to  Washington,  after- 
ward to  London,  then  Minister  of  Education.  Bun- 
taro,  a  fanatical  Shinto  priest,  saw  and  heard  what  he 
did  and  said,  and  from  that  time  shadowed  him  until 
an  opportunity  offered  to  kill  him,  on  February  11, 
1889.  The  priest  was  at  once  dispatched  but  his  act 
was  approved  by  the  Japanese,  who  made  a  martyr 
of  him.  Thousands  visit  his  grave,  burn  incense  on  it 
and  say  prayers  over  it. 

The  New  Year's  offerings,  consisting  of  rice  cakes 


A  Japanese  Temple 


iij  or  Temple  Gate 


SOME    SACRED    SPOTS    OF    JAPAN          285 

and  money  done  up  in  paper  packages,  were  several 
feet  deep  around  the  entrances.  At  night  holy  fires 
were  lighted  near  the  temples  and  kept  burning  from 
eight  in  the  evening  until  daylight  the  next  morning. 
Thousands  of  rice  cakes  were  roasted  in  the  fires  and 
eaten  by  the  people  to  keep  off  diseases,  and  for  good 
luck  and  happiness  throughout  the  year.  Some  cooked 
the  cakes  in  the  fires,  rubbed  them  on  their  afflicted 
parts  and  then  ate  them. 

Shintoism  has  been  little  affected  by  Buddhism  in 
Ise,  and  these  temples  are  more  like  the  aboriginal 
temples  than  any  others,  unless  it  be  the  great  Shinto 
temple  of  Izumo  on  the  west  coast.  Shinto,  the  primi- 
tive religion,  or  cultus,  has  existed  from  time  im- 
memorial; it  is  very  simple,  nothing  more  than 
ancestral  worship  of  heroes  and  great  men  who  are 
supposed  to  become  deities  after  death  and  to  exercise 
a  good  influence  over  mortals.  Being  the  religion  of 
the  Emperor  and  the  court,  it  greatly  predominates 
over  the  other  religions  in  Japan,  and  the  priests  and 
temples  receive  an  annuity  from  the  government  for 
their  support. 

Twelve  miles  from  Yamada  is  Toba.  The  road 
runs  over  wooded  hills,  through  green  valleys  and 
along  the  Bay,  and  the  scenery  is  beautiful  all  the 
way.  Our  four  coolies  trotted  along  at  a  lively  rate 
and  covered  the  distance  in  a  little  over  two  hours, 
which  would  have  been  fair  traveling  for  horses,  con- 
sidering the  steepness  of  the  road.  When  I  saw  the 


286     NEWEST    WAY   ROUNQ   THE   WORLD 

little  boxes  of  luncheon  the  riksha  men  had  brought 
with  them,  I  offered  to  buy  more  as  there  was  not 
much  over  a  half  pint  of  cooked  rice  and  a  teacup  full 
of  cooked  vegetables,  which  seemed  wholly  insufficient 
for  men  working  so  hard ;  but  they  refused  my  offer, 
saying  it  was  about  as  much  as  they  ate  at  each  of 
their  three  meals  a  day.  I  could  hardly  believe  that 
these  muscular  little  men,  none  of  whom  were  over 
five  feet  two  or  three  inches  in  height,  could  build  up 
such  strength  on  such  modest  rations.  Their  hard 
exertion  and  exposure,  however,  soon  kills  them,  and 
hardly  any  live  to  be  over  thirty-five  or  forty  years  of 
age,  usually  dying  of  pulmonary  diseases. 

Toba  is  a  small  town  on  the  sea  coast.  Few  strang- 
ers go  there,  for  it  is  some  distance  from  the  beaten 
path  of  travel.  Its  principal  visitors  are  coast  steam- 
ers. From  Hiyori-yama,  a  high  hill  at  the  edge  of 
the  town,  one  has  a  fine  view  of  the  ocean,  and  there 
is  of  course  a  tea  house  on  its  summit,  so  arranged 
that  while  eating  luncheon  and  sipping  tea  you  can 
enjoy  the  prospect.  The  ocean  and  harbor  for  a  con- 
siderable distance  are  filled  with  green  islands,  many 
of  them  very  peculiar  in  shape,  and  the  white  sails  of 
junks  and  coasting  steamers,  thickly  dotted  over  the 
water,  make  a  pretty  contrast  with  the  blue  sea  and 
the  green  islands. 

We  returned  by  another  route,  quite  as  pretty  as 
the  one  we  went  over  but  much  more  hilly,  in  order 
to  visit  Futami,  a  picturesque  and  charming  seaside 


287 

resort,  where  the  Empress  Dowager  spent  her  sum- 
mers some  years  before  she  died.  The  great  attraction 
of  Futami  are  two  black  rocks,  not  far  from  the  shore, 
tied  together  with  bright  straw  ropes.  Murray's 
Guide  Book  to  Japan  calls  them  "  Wife  and  Hus- 
band Rocks,"  and  says  the  rope  is  symbolical  of  con- 
jugal union;  but  according  to  the  story  told  by  Fuji- 
sawa  and  other  Japanese  even  more  intelligent  than 
he,  the  rocks  have  quite  a  different  meaning. 

Fujisawa  said,  pointing  to  a  spot  on  the  shore  just 
opposite  the  rocks,  "  It  was  about  there  our  Mikado 
stood  many  centuries  ago  and  prayed  to  the  Sun  God- 
dess, his  relative,  to  show  him  some  visible  manifesta- 
tion of  God;  and  as  he  prayed,  great  streaks  of 
effulgent  light  descended  from  heaven,  and  twa 
golden  dragons,  a  male  and  a  female,  appeared  on 
the  water.  They  swam  toward  the  Mikado,  and  when 
they  came  to  the  rocks  they  wound  themselves  round 
them,  and  from  that  time  the  rocks  have  been  con- 
sidered sacred." 

Futami  was  crowded  with  pilgrims,  who  had  come 
here  to  pray  before  the  rocks,  for  as  many  pilgrims 
as  visit  the  shrines  of  Ise,  come  here  for  this  purpose 
every  year.  A  booth  near  by  did  a  thriving  business 
selling  photographs  of  the  sun  as  it  appeared  on  the 
day  this  miraculous  event  took  place. 

Fujisawa  told  me  of  two  more  visits  of  the  golden 
dragons  to  Japan,  both  of  which  wrere  to  Buddhist 
priests.  These  cunning,  crafty  men  knew  well  how 


to  work  on  the  credulity  of  the  Japanese  in  early 
times  and  pretended  to  have  visits  from  both  the 
dragon  and  the  Sun  Goddess.  In  this  way  they  suc- 
ceeded in  mixing  their  religion  with  that  of  the 
Japanese,  until  there  is  hardly  a  Shinto  fe^iple  in 'the 
land  about  which  there  is  not  something  that  has  been 
borrowed  from  the  Buddhists.  The  dragan  is  wor- 
shiped as  a  deity  by  the  ignorant,  and  .highly  re- 
spected even  by  the  educated  and  more  enlightened 
classes.  The  dragonology  of  Japan  is  very  extensive, 
for  there  is  no  end  to  the  marvelous  and  miraculous 
things  attributed  to  this  scaly  wriggler  the  Japanese 
variety  of  which  is  distinguished  from  all  the  rest  of 
the  dragon  family  by  the  number  of  his  claws,  which 
is  three. 

Nagoya  was  grewsome,  cold  and  disagreeable  to 
an  extreme  degree,  as  it  was  snowing,  blowing  and 
freezing  when  we  arrived.  The  hotel  was  like  an  ice 
box  and  it  was  impossible  to  go  on  the  streets  on  ac- 
count of  the  storm ;  so  I  stayed  in  the  hotel,  rolled  up 
in  rugs  to  keep  warm,  and  kept  busy  looking  at  the 
various  articles  the  peddlers  brought  to  the  hotel. 
They  had  quantities  of  cloisonne,  a  business  carried 
on  extensively  here;  some  of  which  was  lovely,  es- 
pecially the  enameling  on  silver,  which  is  the  latest 
cloisonne. 

Nagoya  is  a  rich  commercial  city,  the  capital  of 
the  province  of  Owari.  It  is  famous  for  its  potteries, 
the  largest  in  the  country,  of  which  the  Matsumura 


SOME    SACRED    SPOTS    OF    JAPAN         289 

potteries  are  in  the  town  and  easily  visited.  They 
turn  out  good  ware  but  nothing  like  those  of  Seto, 
about  fourteen  miles  from  Nagoya.  These  potteries 
have  been  established  for  nearly  seven  centuries. 
Their  founders  spent  years  in  China  learning  the  art, 
and  Seto's  porcelains  are  famous  the  world  over  for 
their  fineness,  beauty  and  quality. 

Nagoya's  castle  is  another  of  the  monuments  left 
by  the  Shoguns.  It  was  built  for  lyeyasu's  son,  who 
was  the  first  prince  of  Owari.  The  apartments  occu- 
pied by  this  prince  were  magnificently  decorated  and 
enough  of  the  decorations  are  still  sufficiently  perfect 
to  show  what  they  were  like,  although  they  are 
dimmed  by  time  and  were  defaced  by  vandals  at  the 
time  of  the  Restoration,  as  were  many  other  things 
in  Japan  through  the  ignorance  of  that  period. 

When  I  entered  the  railroad  coach  at  Nagoya  its 
only  occupants  were  an  English  lady,  a  Japanese 
gentleman,  and  a  little  girl  who  resembled  him. 
Grouped  around  them  were  a  number  of  women,  one 
of  whom  had  her  hair  cut  square  at  the  neck  and  drawn 
back  from  the  face  with  a  kind  of  hairpin,  after  the 
manner  of  widows  of  the  better  classes,  who  wear 
their  hair  in  this  way  and  never  re-marry.  Her  teeth 
were  blackened  according  to  the  custom  of  the  married 
women  and  many  of  the  widows  of  Japan,  and  I  af- 
terwards learned  that  she  was  the  mother  of  the  gen- 
tleman. 

As  the  time  drew  near  for  the  train  to  depart,  the 


290     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

widow  and  her  companion  wept  bitterly  and  gave  the 
little  girl  boxes  of  toys.  The  English  lady  said  to  the 
little  girl,  "  Bid  Grandma  good-by,  darling " ;  but 
what  was  the  child  to  do  for  they  neither  kiss  nor 
shake  hands  in  Japan.  She  scowled  and  hung  her 
head  sullenly,  while  the  son  looked  at  his  mother  per- 
ceptibly affected;  but  as  love  and  affection  are  un- 
demonstrated  in  Japan,  he  simply  stood  and  blinked 
his  tears  away.  The  English  lady  offered  her  hand 
several  times,  but  as  no  hand  was  offered  to  receive  it, 
she  seemed  perplexed  to  know  how  to  comfort  the 
weeping  women.  It  was  a  sad,  strange  parting. 

Strangers  in  a  strange  land  soon  get  acquainted 
and  the  English  lady  and  I  were  soon  quite  chatty* 
She  introduced  the  Japanese  gentleman  to  me  as  Mr. 
Teska*  and  said  that  their  marriage  was  one  of  the 
romances  of  the  Chicago  World's  Fair.  Mr.  Teska, 
being  one  of  the  owners  of  the  Matsumara  potteries 
at  Nagoya,  came  with  the  exhibit  to  the  Fair,  after 
which  he  opened  in  New  York  one  of  the  largest  stores 
for  the  sale  of  Japanese  porcelains  in  the  United 
States,  and  there  they  had  lived  ever  since.  The  little 
girl  was  their  only  child;  she  was  named  Keyo,  mean- 
ing pure,  after  a  waterfall  near  Kioto,  and  would 
have  been  pretty  but  for  her  Japanese  eyes. 

When  I  left  the  train  at  Shidzuoka  I  noticed  a 
great  many  people  around  the  depot  and  flags  con- 
spicuously displayed  everywhere.  I  found  that  the 
commotion  in  this  otherwise  quiet  town  was  due  to 


SOME    SACRED    SPOTS    OF    JAPAN          291 

the  visit  of  forty  members  of  the  Japanese  Diet,  who 
had  arrived  only  a  short  time  before  from  Tokio,  to 
attend  to  government  business  and  to  visit  the  temples. 
The  Daito-kwam  Hotel  was  in  a  whirl  of  excite- 
ment when  I  reached  there,  as  it  was  getting  ready 
for  a  banquet  to  be  given  them  in  the  evening  by  the 
principal  citizens  of  the  town.  This  banquet  took 
place  in  the  foreign  part  of  the  hotel  where  three  long 
tables  were  set  for  the  guests,  who  ate  with  knives 
and  forks  food  cooked  in  the  Japanese  style.  There 
were  innumerable  courses,  more  than  half  of  which 
were  different  kinds  of  fish,  and  the  odor  was  so 
strong  it  could  be  smelled  all  over  the  hotel  and  far 
out  in  the  street.  Hot  sake  was  served  with  every 
course.  They  did  not  smoke  the  little  toy-like  Japa- 
nese pipes  with  metal  bowls  and  mouthpiece  and  bam- 
boo stems  that  hold  about  two  whiffs  of  tobacco,  but 
the  best  brand  of  Manila  cigars.  No  maiko  or  geisha 
girls  were  bidden  to  this  feast  to  entertain  this  august 
body  with  their  songs  and  dances,  but  there  was  a 
master  of  ceremonials,  however,  and  each  member 
responded  to  a  toast.  They  stamped  their  feet,  clapped 
their  hands,  and  "  hurrahed  "  in  true  western  style 
until  about  twelve  o'clock,  when  the  hot  sake  made 
them  jolly  and  they  began  to  sing,  and  such  cater- 
wauling I  never  heard.  This  continued  for  an  hour 
or  more,  when  they  commenced  to  say  their  adieus; 
they  bowed  and  bowed  until  I  thought  their  heads 
would  fall  off,  and  sucked  their  breath  through  their 


292      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE   WORLD 

teeth  loud  enough  to  wake  up  the  town.  They  were 
dressed  in  foreign  evening  dress  with  a  lot  of  old 
derby  hats  very  much  out  of  style. 

On  one  of  my  former  visits  to  this  place  I  was  just 
in  time  to  attend  one  of  the  meetings  of  the  Red  Cross 
Society.  The  Princess  Komatsu,  who  is  the  President 
of  the  Society,  stopped  at  the  Japanese  part  of  the 
Daito-kwam  Hotel  with  her  husband,  sister  and  ladies 
in  waiting,  and  I  had  a  good  chance  to  see  them.  The 
Princess  and  her  sister  were  dressed  in  Parisian  gowns 
and  bonnets  and  over  their  heads  carried  parasols 
made  of  dainty  lace,  but  their  gowns  fitted  them  badly, 
for  they  were  much  too  large.  They  rode  around  the 
town  in  rikshas  without  any  guards,  and  there  was 
nothing  to  distinguish  them  from  ordinary  mortals, 
except  that  they  were  always  accompanied  by  their 
ladies  in  waiting.  The  Princess  Komatsu  speaks  sev- 
eral foreign  languages  fluently.  She  has  shown  won- 
derful ability  in  her  management  of  the  Red  Cross 
Society,  especially  during  the  Chinese  war.  She  is 
greatly  interested  in  all  the  hospitals  of  the  country 
and  spends  much  of  her  time  among  them,  especially 
in  Tokio  where  she  lives. 

The  Red,  Cross  Society  of  Japan  numbers  nearly 
8000.  Oto  was  my  guide  on  this  occasion  and  many 
times  he  reiterated  the  fact  that  it  was  seldom  a  tourist 
saw  so  many  of  the  real  ladies  of  Japan  assembled 
together.  Nearly  all  of  them  were  dressed  in  kimonos 
of  different  shades  of  drab  silk  crepe,  embroidered 


SOME    SACRED    SPOTS    OF    JAPAN          293 

with  their  crest.  They  were  the  most  orderly,  well- 
behaved  lot  of  people  I  ever  saw  together. 

Shidzuoka  is  famous  as  the  place  where  lyeyasu, 
the  Xapoleon  of  Japan,  spent  his  old  age.  Nothing 
can  equal  the  mortuary  temples  of  this  Shogun  and 
his  grandson  lyemitsu  at  Nikko,  unless  it  be  the  Taj 
Mahal  at  Agra,  India.  They  are  situated  on  the  top 
of  a  sacred  mountain,  surrounded  by  grand  old  for- 
ests that  are  centuries  old,  one  of  the  most  charming 
places  on  this  earth. 

Xikko,  next  to  Ise,  is  the  most  sacred  place  in 
Japan.  When  the  last  of  the  Shoguns  surrendered 
his  power  in  1868  he  removed  to  Shidzuoka,  where  he 
lives  in  seclusion,  seldom  being  seen  outside  his  estate. 
His  dwelling  is  situated  in  an  exceedingly  lonesome 
looking  place,  in  a  large  enclosure  or  park  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  town.  Fujiyama,  the  sacred  mountain, 
can  be  seen  plainly  from  here.  It  never  looked  more 
divinely  beautiful,  for  it  was  covered  from  top  to 
bottom  with  a  mantle  of  pure,  white  snow;  there  was 
not  so  much  as  a  filmy  cloud  round  its  cone.  It  stood 
out  clear-cut  against  the  heavens  in  all  its  majesty  and 
glory,  peerless  Fuji,  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  all. 

After  we  left  Shidzuoka  the  ground  was  covered 
with  about  three  inches  of  snowr  and  the  air  was  cold; 
but  the  country  looked  warm  and  summer}7,  and  the 
trees  were  green.  Through  the  car  window  we  saw 
camelias  in  full  bloom  standing  in  the  snow,  and  at 
one  railroad  station  where  we  stopped  the  plum  or- 


294,     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

chards  were  so  full  of  bloom  their  limbs  were  fairly 
bending.  Cold,  foggy  weather  does  not  seem  to  af- 
fect the  flowers  or  prevent  their  coming  out,  and 
there  is  not  a  month  in  the  year  without  some  kind  of 
lovely  bloom  in  Japan. 

The  only  one  of  its  flower  shows  I  was  disappointed 
in  was  the  Chrysanthemum,  which  takes  place  in  No- 
vember, the  largest  one  being  held  at  Tokio.  Those 
I  attended  were  held  in  a  lot  of  common  sheds  along 
a  narrow,  hilly  street  with  many  flags  and  banners 
flying.  There  was  nothing  extraordinary  about  the 
size  or  beauty  of  the  flowers;  they  had  been  woven 
into  many  odd  designs  but  they  were  so  inartistic  I 
could  hardly  believe  they  were  the  work  of  the  Japa- 
nese. The  finest  varieties  of  the  chrysanthemum  grown 
in  the  country  are  those  in  the  Imperial  Gardens, 
many  of  which  are  large,  rich  in  coloring  and  won- 
derfully beautiful.  The  Emperor  gives  two  large 
garden  parties  every  year,  one  in  the  fall  when  the 
chrysanthemums  are  in  bloom,  and  the  other  in  the 
spring  when  the  cherry  blossoms  are  out.  The  Japa- 
nese call  the  chrysanthemum  "  Kiku,"  a  great  im- 
provement on  the  long,  lumbering  name  we  have 
given  them. 

Traveling  in  the  same  car  were  three  young  girls 
dressed  in  dainty  kimonos;  they  were  the  daughters 
of  some  of  the  best  families,  for  no  other  class  of 
Japanese  ever  travel  in  the  first  class  coaches.  They 
had  natural  red  cheeks  and  lips,  which  contrasted 


Fujiyama^  The  Sabred  Mountain 


SOME    SACRED    SPOTS    OF    JAPAN          295 

pleasantly  with  the  artificial  coloring  so  characteristic 
of  the  Japanese  girl,  and  they  were  so  sweet  and  had 
such  charming  manners  I  greatly  admired  them  and 
wondered  what  their  names  might  be,  for  the  Jap- 
anese have  a  very  aesthetic  and  pretty  method  of  nam- 
ing their  girls.  A  Japanese  gentleman  who  was  also 
traveling  in  the  train  and  could  speak  English,  kindly 
wrote  their  names  for  me  in  Japanese  and  translated 
them  into  English.  One  was  O-Hana,  which  signi- 
fies "  Honorable  Blossom,"  another  was  O-Kiku,  or 
"  Honorable  Chrysanthemum,"  and  the  third  was 
named  O-Ume,  which  means  "  Honorable  Plum." 
The  Honorific  "  O  "  is  very  promiscuously  used  out 
there;  in  fact,  nearly  everything  is  "Honorable";  it 
always  precedes  women's  names  and  monkey's  alike. 


CHAPTER   TWENTY-FIVE 

FAREWELL    TO    JAPAN 

AT  Kodzu  we  went  to  the  Kodzu-kwan,  a  Jap- 
^T  anese  tea  house  and  inn  combined,  for  luncheon, 
or  rather  to  eat  the  luncheon  I  had  brought  along  with 
me,  for  they  do  not  serve  foreign  food  there,  only  tea 
to  foreigners.  It  was  so  chilly  from  the  dampness  I 
took  my  luncheon  out  of  doors  to  eat  it,  which  I  found 
to  be  much  more  comfortable. 

Japanese  dwellings  are  very  superficial  and  look 
more  like  playhouses  for  children  than  habitations  for 
human  beings.  They  are  nothing  more  than  a  lot  of 
sliding  screens  which  they  slide  both  externally  and 
internally.  The  inside  screens  are  made  of  paper  and 
at  least  one-half  of  those  outside  are  lattices  covered 
with  a  tough,  white  Japanese  paper  made  from  wood 
fiber,  to  let  the  light  in  and  take  the  place  of  windows. 
Glass  is  beginning  to  be  used  quite  extensively,  and 
often  there  will  be  a  few  panes  set  in  the  paper  screens 
for  lookouts ;  in  some  of  the  more  pretentious  houses 
the  lattices  are  filled  with  glass  instead  of  paper.  The 
ceilings  are  of  polished  wood.  The  houses  have  no 
chimneys  nor  any  way  of  heating  them  except  hibachis 
'(fire-boxes). 

The  Kodzu-kwan  Inn  was  packed  with  Japanese 

296 


FAREWELL    TO    JAPAN  297 

who,  like  myself,  were  waiting  for  the  train.  They 
sat  around  on  the  floor  wrapped  in  their  thickly  wad- 
ded kimonos,  and  hovering  over  hibachis,  and  they 
seemed  to  feel  the  cold  as  much  as  I  did.  The  Jap- 
anese wear  their  kimonos  thickly  wadded  in  the  winter 
time,  but  few  of  them  wear  any  underclothing  and 
they  do  not  seem  to  be  very  warm  for  the  kimonos 
usually  fly  open  at  the  bottom  every  time  they  step. 
Their  stockings  are  made  of  thick,  white  cloth,  but 
they  are  of  little  protection  to  the  foot  for  they  only 
come  just  above  the  ankle  joint  and  there  is  quite  a 
space  between  them  and  the  kimono.  Their  shoes 
are  wooden  clogs  or  straw  sandals,  held  fast  to  the 
foot  by  a  strap  passed  between  the  first  and  second 
toes,  and  their  wearers  slide  and  slip  along  in  a  manner 
we  call  "  pigeon-toed."  Both  men  and  women  go 
bareheaded  with  the  exception  of  those  who  have 
adopted  foreign  headgear. 

After  an  hour's  wait  we  took  the  electric  tram  car 
for  Odawara.  On  the  way  Fujisawa  said  I  was  to 
have  a  surprise,  as  I  was  about  to  ride  not  only  on  the 
smallest  railroad  in  the  country  but  the  only  one  of  its 
kind  in  the  world.  Not  far  from  where  the  cars 
stopped  at  Odawara  was  a  long  shed  that  had  been 
made  into  a  waiting  place,  and  at  a  shop  near  by  Fuji- 
sawa bought  our  tickets.  Pointing  to  the  Japanese 
letters  on  them  he  read  "  Jinsha  Railroad."  The  lit- 
eral rendering  of  jinrikisha  is  "  Man-power  car- 
riage ";  so  I  understood  it  was  a  man-power  railroad; 


298     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

and  judging  from  the  track,  which  was  hardly  two 
feet  in  width,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  it  was  a  little 
baby  railroad  with  cars  drawn  or  pushed  by  men. 

After  twenty  minutes'  wait  the  train  made  its  ap- 
pearance. It  consisted  of  a  third,  second  and  first 
class  coach,  each  coach  about  four  feet  wide,  six  long 
and  five  in  height.  They  had  been  made  to  seat  six 
Japanese,  but  were  hardly  comfortable  for  four  for- 
eigners. The  tops  were  of  wood  and  the  sides  of 
canvas.  The  first  class  coach  was  hitched  in  the  rear, 
the  second  next  and  the  third  ahead,  and  they  were 
all  run  separately,  pushed  from  the  rear  end  by  cool- 
ies, the  number  varying,  according  to  the  load,  from 
two  or  three.  The  coolies  pushed  the  cars  up  the  hills, 
until  we  came  to  a  long  incline  of  a  mile  or  two  where 
they  jumped  on  to  a  board  fastened  to  the  rear  of  the 
coaches  for  the  passengers'  baggage,  and  rode  until 
the  next  hill  was  reached.  Then  came  a  terrible  push- 
ing and  chanting  and  yelling  of  the  coolies  in  order 
to  work  together,  for  sometimes  the  cars  would  stick 
and  the  poor  fellows  would  have  a  hard  time  getting 
them  started  again. 

There  were  four  stations  on  the  route  where  we 
stopped,  and  at  one  of  them  we  changed  coolies.  It 
took  us  four  hours  to  go  sixteen  miles  to  Atami,  the 
terminus  of  the  road.  The  scenery  was  very  pictur- 
esque along  the  way,  and  now  and  then  we  caught 
glimpses  of  the  ocean  between  the  hills.  In  the  valleys 
the  plum  and  orange  trees  were  in  bloom  and  the  air 


FAREWELL    TO    JAPAN  299 

was  full  of  fragrance.  Atami  is  the  winter  resort  of 
the  Japanese  aristocrats,  who  come  here  to  take  the 
hot  baths  so  famous  for  their  curative  powers.  The 
water  comes  from  a  large  geyser  in  the  center  of  the 
town,  which  breaks  out  every  four  hours;  but  since 
it  has  been  piped  into  so  many  bathing  places  it  does 
not  shoot  up  to  its  former  great  height.  The  most 
attractive  place  is  the  villa  of  the  Crown  Prince,  situ- 
ated at  one  side  of  the  town.  Before  his  marriage 
the  Prince  came  here  every  winter,  but  now  he  comes 
only  occasionally.  His  health  is  said  to  have  been 
much  improved  by  the  baths. 

The  Japanese  hotels  were  crowded  with  people 
afflicted  with  different  diseases,  but  I  did  not  see  any 
doctors  in  the  place,  and  apparently  the  only  remedies 
used  were  hot  baths  and  massage,  the  principal  cura- 
tives of  the  Japanese.  The  massage  business  is  con- 
fined to  the  blind,  and  their  plaintive  cries  may  be 
heard  in  the  streets  as  they  grope  their  way  along 
soliciting  customers.  They  charge  for  their  serv- 
ices not  more  than  from  ten  to  twelve  cents  of  our 
money  with  a  tip  of  two  or  three  cents  called  "  sake 
money." 

I  found  many  curious  and  ingeniously  made  things 
in  Atami's  shops,  in  one  of  them  three  Buddhist  gods. 
They  were  Amida,  or  Dai-Butsu  (Great  Buddha), 
which  is  the  principal  Deity  worshiped  in  the  Bud- 
dhist Temples  of  Japan;  Kwannon,  the  Thousand- 
Handed  Goddess  of  Mercy,  who  is  supposed  to  listen 


300      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE   WORLD 

to  the  prayers  of  the  needy  and  sorrowing  ones,  and 
Jizu,  the  special  protector  of  women  and  children, 
and  forlorn  and  weary  travelers.  According  to  the 
traditions  told  of  him,  he  has  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  sublime  characters  ever  given  to  a  deity.  He  is 
always  represented  with  a  shaven  head  and  a  sweet 
childlike  countenance,  holding  in  one  hand  a  staff,  in 
the  other  a  jewel,  and  he  is  usually  seated  on  a  lotus 
throne. 

When  the  shopkeeper  noticed  these  gods  attracted 
my  attention  he  brought  them  out  and  bowed  pro- 
foundly to  each  as  he  sat  them  on  the  counter.  He 
informed  me  they  were  at  least  three  hundred  years 
old,  and  added  that  he  had  bought  them  from  some 
Buddhist  priests  in  the  interior  who  were  obliged  to 
dispose  of  the  surplus  gods  around  the  temple  to  buy 
rice  to  keep  them  from  starving.  After  the  usual 
amount  of  haggling  we  arrived  at  a  satisfactory  price, 
and  I  bought  them.  The  shopkeeper  assured  me  that 
I  would  be  prosperous  and  have  good  luck  as  long  as 
I  had  them  in  my  possession,  although  they  had  not 
proved  of  much  use  to  the  starving  priests. 

Murray  says  that  owing  to  the  mildness  of  its 
climate  and  the  beauty  of  its  scenery  and  its  many 
orange  groves,  the  little  peninsula  of  Izu  where  Atami 
is  situated,  can  justly  be  called  the  Riviera  of  Japan. 
It  is  baking  hot  here  in  the  summer  time  and  Atami's 
winter  visitors  move  over  the  hills  twenty  miles  to 
Miyanoshita,  a  lovely  summer  resort  situated  on  the 


FAREWELL    TO    JAPAN  301 

mountain  sides.  As  I  viewed  it  from  afar  it  recalled 
to  memory  the  pleasant  time  I  spent  there  one  October 
some  years  before.  I  never  forgot  its  excellent  hotel, 
the  Fuji-Ya,  it  had  such  nice  hot  baths  direct  from 
the  boiling  springs.  But  one  of  the  most  charming 
things  about  it  was  the  little  Japanese  maids  who 
waited  on  the  guests.  They  did  everything  around 
the  hotel,  even  to  carrying  the  baggage;  I  never  had 
to  ring  for  a  waiter  as  long  as  I  was  there,  for  they 
were  always  flitting  in  and  out  of  my  room  doing 
something  to  make  me  comfortable. 

We  left  Kudze  for  Tokio  by  the  express  train, 
which  was  packed  full  of  passengers,  all  Japanese  ex- 
cept myself.  The  first  class  coaches  were  divided  into 
compartments,  and  it  was  in  one  of  these  I  had  to 
sit  with  five  Japanese  during  my  forty-mile  ride.  The 
air  in  the  overcrowded  and  poorly  ventilated  car  was 
almost  unbearable,  and  recalled  forcibly  to  my  mind 
what  an  American  lady  who  had  lived  in  Japan  for 
years  had  told  me.  She  said  that  foreigners  should 
not  put  too  much  confidence  in  the  regard  the  Jap- 
anese often  profess  for  them,  for  though  it  was  prob- 
able they  like  Americans  better  than  any  other  for- 
eigners, these  in  general  are  so  disliked  by  them  that 
even  the  odor  from  their  bodies  is  abhorrent.  She  also 
said  that  when  the  Japanese  have  lived  in  foreign 
countries  long  enough  to  acquire  the  same  odor,  their 
relatives  would  have  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with 
them  when  they  returned  to  Japan,  and  that  they  had 


302     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

to  burn  their  clothing  and  live  on  high-smelling  fish 
and  other  rank  Japanese  food  until  the  national  odor 
returned  to  them  before  they  would  be  recognized  by 
their  countrymen.  I  had  always  thought  the  smell 
of  all  orientals  unpleasant,  but  never  until  I  was  shut 
up  in  that  compartment  with  five  of  them  did  I  realize 
what  a  strong,  queer  odor  the  Japanese  have.  No 
doubt  it  was  because  I  never  had  sat  near  so  many  in 
such  close  quarters  before,  but  whatever  the  cause  I 
was  sure  if  Americans  should  stay  out  there  until  they 
had  acquired  this  odor,  not  only  their  own  country- 
men but  everyone  else  would  shun  them. 

When  we  reached  Tokio  it  was  storming  and  the 
ground  was  covered  with  a  foot  of  snow.  I  was 
greatly  amused  at  the  scene  around  the  depot,  for 
many  of  the  coolies  wore  storm  coats  made  from  rice 
straw,  and  they  looked  like  a  lot  of  little  straw  stacks 
out  for  a  lark  as  they  nimbly  bobbed  around  attending 
to  the  passengers  and  their  baggage. 

There  was  no  perceptible  change  in  the  Imperial 
Hotel  since  my  last  visit.  It  still  had  a  French  chef 
and  the  various  dishes  on  the  bill  of  fare  had  long 
French  names,  but  I  could  not  detect  the  slightest 
taste  of  French  cooking  about  them,  but  they  were 
very  palatable.  The  dining  room  was  quite  pretty 
and  very  pleasant.  In  the  center  was  a  pyramid  of 
ferns,  and  perched  high  above  it  was  a  large  bronze 
eagle  with  outspread  wings,  made  by  a  poor  Japanese 
artist  for  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago  and  exhibited 


FAREWELL    TO    JAPAN  30$ 

in  the  Japanese  section  there.  For  some  reason  it  was 
not  disposed  of  and  was  sent  back  to  Japan,  where  it 
was  bought  by  the  hotel  company.  I  saw  it  often 
at  the  Fair  where  I  had  greatly  admired  it,  for  it  is 
a  wonderful  piece  of  workmanship.  It  was  made  en- 
tirety by  hand,  and  there  are  over  7000  perfect 
feathers  on  it,  each  of  which  was  made  separately. 

There  is  no  order  or  regularity  to  Tokio  and  not 
much  about  it  that  reminds  one  of  a  city.  Its  million 
and  a  half  of  inhabitants  occupy  a  space  one  hundred 
miles  square,  and  are  so  scattered  and  separated 
by  gardens,  parks,  parade  grounds,  moats,  rivers,  and 
canals,  you  are  seemingly  always  going  from  one  town 
to  the  other,  most  of  them  miles  apart.  It  takes 
hours  to  get  anywhere  here,  for  the  principal  way  of 
getting  about  is  by  jinrikishas,  often  called  big  baby 
carriages.  There  is  but  one  electric  tram  car  line  that 
runs  to  the  center  of  the  city,  and  a  few  omnibuses, 
patronized  only  by  the  Iowrer  classes.  The  different 
parts  of  the  city  are  exactly  alike, — the  streets  wide, 
crooked  and  extending  in  all  directions,  the  houses 
small,  of  one  and  two  stories  and  built  of  wood,  the 
highest  of  them  being  seldom  over  nineteen  feet. 
Nearly  every  house  has  a  little  open  shop  in  it  with 
many  odd  advertising  devices  suspended  from  the 
front,  which  gives  the  streets  a  very  picturesque  ap- 
pearance. It  is  the  largest  city  in  Japan,  and  one  of 
the  most  important  since  lyeyasu  moved  the  capital 
of  the  Shoguns  there  more  than  three  centuries  ago. 


304     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE   WORLD 

Prior  to  that  time  it  was  only  a  small  fishermen's 
village. 

The  new  palace  where  the  Emperor  now  resides  is 
built  on  the  spot  where  the  palace  of  the  Shogun  stood, 
though  nothing  but  the  old  moats  that  surrounded  the 
palace  grounds  are  now  perfect.  The  present  Em- 
peror, Mutsu-Hito,  whose  divine  origin  does  not  pre- 
vent him  from  being  a  great  and  good  ruler,  takes  the 
deepest  interest  in  all  governmental  affairs,  and  it  has 
been  his  progressive  ideas  which  have  brought  about 
most  of  the  many  changes  in  the  country  in  so  short 
a  time  and  caused  western  manners  and  customs  to 
spread  so  rapidly  over  the  empire.  His  desire  seems 
to  be  to  place  the  country  on  a  plane  with  the  most 
enlightened  nations  of  the  world,  and  his  success  in 
this  direction  has  been  marvelous.  A  few  more  years 
of  such  rule  and  old  Japan  will  have  passed  away  and 
the  country  become  so  modernized  that  its  former  in- 
stitutions will  be  as  much  of  a  curiosity  to  the  people 
as  were  those  of  modern  times. 

"  His  Majesty,  our  Emperor,"  as  the  people  call 
him,  is  the  most  honored  and  respected  by  his  subjects 
of  any  ruler  in  the  world.  I  am  sure  he  could  travel 
from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other  without  any 
protection  whatever  and  be  treated  by  the  people  with 
the  greatest  respect  everywhere,  for  patriotism  is  in- 
born in  the  Nipponese.  The  little  tot  scarcely  able 
to  balance  itself  on  its  tiny  clogs  makes  the  same  low 
bow  and  seemingly  quite  as  understandingly  as  its 


FAREWELL    TO    JAPAN  305 

elders,  or  most  of  them  at  least,  whenever  their  Em- 
peror is  spoken  of.  Hearn  says,  when  teaching 
among  the  Nipponese,  if  he  asked  the  pupils  in  his 
various  classes  to  tell  him  their  dearest  wish,  nine  out 
of  every  ten  would  answer,  "  To  die  for  His  Sacred 
Majesty,  our  Beloved  Emperor";  and  that  the  wish 
came  straight  from  their  hearts,  as  pure  as  any  wish 
of  martyrdom  ever  born. 

The  Emperor  was  born  in  Kioto,  November  3, 1852, 
and  ascended  the  throne  on  the  death  of  his  father  in 
1867,  when  he  was  but  fifteen.  The  same  year  the 
Shogun  gave  up  his  power  which  thereby  reverted  to 
the  Emperor,  the  rightful  ruler.  In  1868  he  moved 
to  Yedo,  afterwards  called  Tokio,  where  he  has  lived 
ever  since;  and,  though  he  has  thirty  palaces  in  as 
many  different  towns  and  villages  which  have  been 
capitals  of  the  country  at  one  time  and  another,  he 
has  never  seen  half  of  them. 

The  most  notable  event  of  the  year  is  the  Emperor's 
birthday  celebration,  November  3d.  He  is  not  a 
handsome  man  but  he  has  a  distinguished  and  stately 
bearing  and  this,  with  his  military  uniform  as  Gener- 
alissimo of  the  Army,  makes  him  quite  as  distin- 
guished looking  as  any  of  the  monarchs  of  Europe. 
Before  he  was  seventeen  years  old  he  was  married  to 
Haru-Ko,  born  May  9,  1850,  the  daughter  of  Ichijo 
Tadaka,  a  court  noble  of  high  rank.  She  has  no  royal 
blood  in  her  veins,  for  the  Emperors  of  Japan  are  not 
allowed  to  marry  the  imperial  princesses,  their  wives 


306     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

being  chosen  for  them  from  among  the  five  noblest 
families  in  the  country. 

The  Empress  always  appears  in  public  in  foreign 
dress  which  is  no  more  becoming  to  her  than  it  is  to 
the  more  lowly  Japanese  women,  and  both  she  and 
the  court  ladies  wear  splendid  jewels.  This  was  not 
the  style  until  the  present  reign,  and  it  will  be  a  long 
time  yet  before  the  wearing  of  jewelry  will  be  uni- 
versally adopted  by  the  women  of  the  country. 
Though  very  small  and  not  so  handsome  as  some  say 
she  is  she  must  be  a  very  dainty  and  charming  woman 
in  her  native  dress.  She  is  very  literary  in  her  taste 
and  takes  quite  an  interest  in  the  schools  of  the 
country. 

The  Empress  has  never  had  any  children,  the  Crown 
Prince,  Haru,  or  Yoshi-Hito,  being  the  son  of  the 
Emperor  and  the  Countess  Yanagiwara.  In  olden 
times  the  Emperors  were  allowed  one  wife  and  twelve 
concubines.  Mutsu-Hito,  the  present  Son  of  Heaven, 
falls  somewhat  short  of  this,  for  he  has  one  wife  and 
only  nine  concubines.  They  were  all  selected  for  him 
from  the  Kuge  families,  which  are  the  noblest  of  the 
country,  and  they  all  have  a  social  standing  with  ele- 
gant establishments  of  their  own,  and  are  much  re- 
spected. The  only  place  they  are  never  seen  is  at 
court. 

The  Emperor  has  had  a  number  of  children  by 
these  women,  five  of  whom  are  living.  A  law  was 
passed  in  1900  which,  it  is  thought,  will  in  time  help 


FAREWELL    TO    JAPAN  307 

to  rid  the  country  of  this  evil.  In  future  no  one  but 
the  legitimate  sons  of  the  Emperor  and  Empress  will 
be  permitted  to  ascend  the  throne,  and  in  case  they 
have  no  children  it  will  fall  to  some  subordinate  branch 
of  the  family.  This  law  will  not  affect  the  accession 
of  Yoshi-Hito,  for  he  was  appointed  Crown  Prince 
November  3,  1889,  before  this  law  was  passed.  He 
married  in  May,  1900,  Princess  Saba,  in  the  Imperial 
Palace  of  Tokio,  and  two  sons  have  been  born  to  them ; 
so  it  will  be  some  time  yet  before  the  Japanese  will 
have  to  look  outside  the  royal  family  for  a  ruler. 

In  Shiba  and  Uyeno  parks  are  the  mortuary  tem- 
ples of  the  Tokugawa  Shoguns.  Some  of  the  largest 
of  them  have  been  burned  and  all  have  suffered  from 
vandalism.  The  interior  decorations  of  those  remain- 
ing have  been  little  hurt,  and  they  are  wonderfully 
beautiful,  resembling  the  Temples  of  Nikko,  only 
much  smaller.  Also  in  these  parks  are  the  govern- 
ment bazaars,  which  are  very  extensive.  Many  pretty 
and  novel  things  can  be  bought  here  much  more  rea- 
sonably than  in  the  shops  at  Tokio. 

At  the  Imperial  Museum  in  Uyeno  one  sees  many 
odd  and  curious  things,  some  of  them  dating  back  ten 
centuries.  Nearly  everything  in  it  has  either  some 
historic  associations  or  individual  peculiarities  that 
make  it  worth  seeing.  Asakusa,  another  park  not  far 
from  Uyeno,  contains  the  famous  old  Kwannon  tem- 
ple which  covers  over  an  acre  of  ground.  It  is  the 
great  resort  of  the  people  who  come  here  to  worship 


308     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE   WORLD 

and  spend  their  leisure  time  under  the  large  trees  that 
surround  it. 

There  are  nearly  2000  temples  in  and  around  Tokio 
which  with  the  arsenal  and  the  government  printing 
office  are  interesting  places  to  visit.  The  government 
buildings  are  disappointing;  the  Parliament  House 
has  often  been  taken  for  an  ordinary  factory,  and, 
though  it  is  better  looking  on  the  inside  than  on  the 
outside,  it  is  no  such  building  as  one  would  expect  to 
see  in  a  country  like  Japan. 

Missionaries  are  well  distributed  all  over  the  coun- 
try, but  there  are  more  in  Tokio  than  anywhere  else. 
Missionary  work  has  not  been  exactly  at  a  standstill 
for  the  past  twelve  years  in  Japan,  but  so  few  have 
professed  Christianity  during  this  time,  it  has  been 
discouraging  to  the  missionaries,  who  take  a  different 
view  of  the  situation.  Some  of  them,  though  a  little 
hesitatingly,  say  that  the  present  state  of  things  hardly 
warrants  them  in  going  on  with  the  work,  and  that 
their  time  and  money  could  be  spent  more  advanta- 
geously in  some  other  way;  others  among  them  feel 
that  while  they  are  not  gaining  much,  they  are  not 
going  back,  and  it  is  their  Christian  duty  to  go  on 
with  their  work.  These  believe  their  influence  has  al- 
ways been  a  great  power  for  good  and  has  accom- 
plished wonders  in  bringing  about  the  various  changes 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  country  since  the  mis- 
sionaries went  there. 

It  is  true  the  missionary  influence  has  been  in  excess 


The   Empress   of   Japan 


FAREWELL    TO    JAPAN  309 

of  their  numbers ;  if  it  were  not  so  their  forty-six  years 
of  labor  in  Japan  would  not  have  amounted  to  much, 
for  at  the  present  time  the  total  number  of  Christians 
of  aU  sects  is  only  121,000,  of  which  about  100,000 
are  missionaries  and  native  converts  belonging  to  the 
missions.  They  have  always  been  kindly  treated  by 
the  Japanese  and  protected  and  encouraged  in  their 
work  by  the  government.  Strangers  who  have  taken 
the  pains  to  investigate  their  work  speak  in  the  highest 
terms  of  it.  When  William  E.  Curtis  visited  Japan 
a  few  years  ago  and  wrote  "  The  Yankees  of  the 
East,"  one  of  the  cleverest  books  ever  written  on 
Japan,  he  simply  lauded  the  missionaries  to  the  skies. 
His  pages,  "  The  Missionary  Problem,"  have  been 
read  and  praised  the  world  over. 

Tokio  is  situated  at  the  head  of  Ye  do  Bay,  eighteen 
miles,  or  less  than  an  hour's  ride  from  Yokohama. 
Earl}'-  one  morning  I  said  my  adieus  and  went  over 
to  Yokohama,  and  I  was  so  delighted  to  be  there  I 
felt  like  saying  "  Ohio  "  to  every  Jap  I  met.  This  is 
the  way  the  Japanese  word  for  "  Good-morning  "  is 
pronounced,  but  it  is  spelled  "  Ohayo."  I  have  liked 
Yokohama  ever  since  the  first  time  I  visited  Nippon, 
for  it  was  there  I  landed  and  had  my  first  glimpse  of 
this  little  wonderland  of  the  Pacific.  Those  days  of 
sight-seeing  were  the  most  enjoyable  I  ever  spent, — 
everything  was  so  curious  and  diif erent  from  anything 
I  had  seen  before,  it  was  one  round  of  happy  surprises. 

Yokohama  is  more  foreign  than  any  of  the  other 


310     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE   WORLD 

cities,  but  it  is  still  sufficiently  oriental  to  be  enjoy- 
able though  changing  rapidly.  On  all  my  visits  there 
I  have  gone  to  the  Grand  Hotel,  the  popular  stopping 
place  where  one  sees  people  from  everywhere.  It  is 
situated  on  the  Bund,  a  well-paved  street  along  the 
front  of  the  harbor,  and  is  very  un-Japanese,  the 
clerks  in  the  office  being  Chinese  and  the  proprietor  a 
rather  bland  old  German. 

Benten-dori  and  Honcho-dori,  Yokohama's  main 
shopping  streets,  are  wonderfully  attractive,  and  all 
kinds  of  Japanese  goods  may  be  bought  there,  from 
the  cheapest  to  the  most  expensive.  The  open  shops, 
with  their  matting-covered  floors  that  give  these 
streets  an  attractive  appearance  and  are  often  mis- 
taken by  strangers  for  show  places  on  account  of  the 
peculiarities  of  the  goods  and  the  novel  way  they  are 
arranged,  are  gradually  disappearing,  for  all  the  shops 
where  embroideries,  jewelry,  silverware,  ivory  carv- 
ing, bronzes,  egg-shell  porcelain  and  other  rich  and 
costly  things  are  sold,  now  have  glass  windows  with 
the  goods  tastefully  arranged  in  them. 

Yokohama  is  often  called  the  Paris  of  the  East,  and 
people  go  there  from  far  and  near  to  have  their  clothes 
made.  Some  of  the  largest  tailoring  establishments 
are  owned  by  the  Japanese  but  all  the  tailors  are  Chi- 
nese. They  make  both  men's  and  women's  clothing 
equally  well,  for  they  get  their  fashions  direct  from 
Europe  and  America  every  month. 


AMERICA 


I 


CHAPTER   TWENTY-SIX 

HAWAII  AND   HONOLULU 
HAWAII  NEI 

If  you  had  the  gift  of  a  poet, 
rAnd  could  make  another  feel 
!  The  fragrant  balm  laden  breezes 
•And  the  song  birds'  tenderes'^  peal; 
!  Could  you  paint  a  beautiful  picture 
,Of  blossoms  rich  and  sweet, 
.Of  luscious  fruits  and  royal  palms, 
.Of  nature  itself  complete; 

Could  you  paint  in  words  or  on  canvas, 

The  sapphires,  the  violets  and  gold, 

The  emeralds,  turquoise  and  amber, 

The  ocean  and  rainbow  hold; 

Could  you  picture  the  rugged  mountains 

With  their  ever-changing  light, 

And  the  silvery  water-fall  leaping 

From  some  precipitous  height; 

You  must  choose  a  theme  majestic, 

With  curtains  of  blue  and  gray, 

A  carpet  of  bright  green  grasses — 

Then  call  it  "  Hawaii  Nei." 

— By  my  dear  friend,  Letitia  Mackay-Walker. 

T  was  my  intention  to  return  to  America  via  Van- 
couver, and  Captain  Archibald,  learning  of  this 

313 


314        NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

before  I  left  the  steamer  at  Kobe,  gave  me  a  little 
surprise  in  the  form  of  the  following  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  the  Captain  of  the  Empress  of  India 
which  I  had  hoped  to  take  at  Yokohama : 

"DEAR  CAPTAIN  MARSHALL: 

"  This  will  serve  to  introduce  to  you  Miss  Miller, 
who  intends  to  cross  with  you  to  Vancouver  next  trip. 
She  is  traveling  alone.  Be  kind  to  her.  You  will  find 
her  very  interesting. 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"  R.  ARCHIBALD." 

Bad  weather  upset  my  plans  however,  and  I  did 
not  reach  Yokohama  in  time  for  the  Empress  of 
India,  so,  after  a  short  sojourn  there,  the  rikshas 
drew  up  in  front  of  the  Grand  Hotel  for  the  passen- 
gers one  morning  and  we  went  down  the  Bund  to  the 
hatoba  (landing-place),  where  the  launch  was  wait- 
ing to  take  us  out  to  the  Coptic,  which  was  anchored 
just  outside  the  harbor.  This  was  my  twentieth  and 
last  steamer. 

It  is  seldom  one  sees  such  a  forlorn-looking  lot  of 
travelers  as  these  were.  Their  sunken  eyes,  hollow 
cheeks  and  sallow  complexions  showed  plainly  that 
their  stay  in  the  Orient  had  not  agreed  with  them, 
and  that  they  were  going  home  to  recuperate.  With 
more  than  half  the  passengers  ailing  at  the  start,  this 
long  journey,  monotonous  at  the  best,  was  doleful 
indeed.  There  was  not  so  much  as  a  game  of  deck 


HAWAII    AND    HONOLULU  315 

billiards,  shuffle-board  or  quoits  all  the  way,  though 
several  times  there  was  an  effort  to  get  up  an  enter- 
tainment in  the  evening.  A  general  from  Manila 
said  he  would  give  us  a  talk  on  the  Philippines,  and 
an  English  captain  who  had  been  six  years  in  China 
volunteered  to  tell  us  about  his  experiences  there, 
but  a  storm  came  up  and  everybody  took  cold,  and 
that  was  the  last  heard  of  the  entertainments.  The 
first  time  all  the  passengers  were  together  after  we 
started  was  on  the  tenth  day  out  when  we  arrived  at 
Honolulu  at  eleven  in  the  morning. 

This  was  my  fourth  visit  to  these  beautiful  islands 
situated  way  out  in  the  Pacific,  hundreds  of  miles 
from  anywhere,  but  easily  reached,  however,  by  five 
lines  of  steamers  which  call  regularly  at  Honolulu, 
and  carry  people  there  from  everywhere.  It  is  said 
there  are  more  races  and  mixtures  of  the  races  in 
Honolulu,  the  capital  of  Hawaii,  than  in  any  other 
city  in  the  world.  The  real  Hawaiians  are  a  fine- 
looking  race,  but  nearly  half  of  them  are  mixtures, 
as  ever  since  the  islands  were  discovered  by  Captain 
Cook  in  1778  they  have  married  and  intermarried 
indiscriminately  with  all  nationalities.  The  royal 
family  was  no  exception  in  this  respect  for  its  mem- 
bers mixed  quite  as  indiscriminately  with  the  negro 
race,  and  King  Kalakaua,  the  former  monarch  of 
Hawaii,  had  the  features  of  an  African. 

Often  the  mixed  races  are  very  clever,  and  where 
they  are  mixed  with  the  white  races,  exceedingly  hand- 


316     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

some.  Many  of  the  Hawaiians  are  inclined  to  be  cor- 
pulent; this  is  attributed  to  their  inordinate  love  of 
"poi"  (pronounced  poy),  a  doughy  substance  made 
from  the  taro  plant,  of  a  grayish  color.  It  has  a  sour 
bitey  taste  and  is  considered  a  healthful  food. 

The  first  settlers  of  Hawaii  came  from  Southern 
Polynesia  more  than  5000  miles  distant,  in  frail  little 
boats  which  they  built  themselves.  They  must  have 
been  a  clever  race  even  at  this  remote  period,  or, 
with  their  limited  knowledge  of  navigation  they  would 
never  have  succeeded  in  reaching  these  pretty  green 
islands  where  it  is  always  summer  and  where  the 
skies  are  often  a  beautiful  blue  and  the  breezes  are  so 
balmy. 

One  of  the  most  extraordinary  things  about  these 
dark-skinned  islanders  is  their  honesty.  Prior  to 
July  7, 1898,  when  Hawaii  became  a  possession  of  the 
United  States,  thieving  of  any  kind  was  almost  un- 
known on  the  islands.  I  stayed  four  weeks  in  one 
of  the  largest  hotels  in  Honolulu  where  my  room 
opened  on  to  the  lower  piazza  with  not  a  bit  of  glass 
in  the  windows,  only  wire  screens  such  as  we  use  to 
keep  out  insects.  I  never  locked  my  room  night  or 
day,  nor  any  of  my  trunks,  yet  I  was  not  disturbed 
nor  was  anything  taken;  I  would  not  have  cared  to 
stay  in  that  room  in  Chicago  even  in  the  day  time. 

The  dress  worn  by  the  native  women  is  a  loose, 
baggy,  unbecoming  garment  known  as  the  "  Mother 
Hubbard  "  which  was  introduced  into  the  islands  by 


HAWAII    AND    HONOLULU  317 

the  first  missionaries  who  came  here  and  found  the 
people  in  puris  naturalibus.  Although  good  St. 
Patrick  never  visited  the  twelve  islands  that  compose 
the  Hawaiian  group  and  sent  the  reptiles  to  perdition 
by  his  curses,  there  are  no  snakes  nor  toads  found  on 
them.  The  vegetation  is  tropical,  the  principal 
products  sugar,  coffee  and  rice.  The  eight  inhabited 
islands  of  the  group  have  a  population  of  154,000. 

During  one  of  my  former  visits  to  Honolulu  oc- 
curred the  death  of  Princess  Kaiulani.  This  ambi- 
tious young  woman  had  been  appointed  by  her  uncle, 
King  Kalakaua  to  succeed  him,  but  her  aunt,  Liliuo- 
kalani,  was  to  act  as  Queen  during  the  minority  of  the 
Princess  who  was  sent  to  England  to  be  educated.  It 
was  while  she  was  living  abroad  that  the  monarchy 
was  overthrown,  and  the  disappointment  to  the 
Princess  was  very  keen.  She  bore  it  bravely,  but  in 
less  than  two  years  she  returned  to  Honolulu  and 
died  March  6,  1899,  after  a  short  illness. 

These  were  sad  days ;  the  mourning  and  wailing  of 
the  natives  for  their  dead  Queen,  as  many  of  them 
called  the  Princess,  could  be  heard  all  over  the  town. 
The  very  skies  seemed  in  sympathy  with  them  and 
mingled  its  tears  with  theirs,  for  every  morning  dur- 
ing the  week  she  lay  in  state  there  was  a  heavy  down- 
pour of  rain.  The  gloom  became  so  depressing  that 
some  of  the  foreign  population  wanted  the  authorities 
to  stop  the  wailing  of  the  natives,  but  the  request  was 
very  wisely  refused. 


318     NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE   WORLD 

I  went  to  Aianhau,  Princess  Kaiulani's  home,  to  see 
her  after  she  was  dead.  The  palace  was  two  stories 
in  height  and  covered  considerable  ground;  it  was 
built  in  the  open,  airy  style  characteristic  of  warm 
climates  and  wras  covered  with  many  green,  lacey 
vines.  The  interior  decorations  and  furnishings  were 
tasteful  but  very  gorgeous  and  the  great  park  around 
the  palace  was  filled  with  all  kinds  of  luxuriant  tropi- 
cal trees,  palms,  shrubs  and  flowering  plants.  The 
air  was  filled  with  the  most  exquisite  perfume  and  the 
songs  of  many  birds  that  seemed  to  sing  their  sweetest 
lays  as  they  hopped  from  bough  to  bough  in  their 
merry,  happy  way. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  loveliness  a  catafalque  had 
been  placed  in  one  of  the  large  parlors  which  opened 
wide  on  to  a  broad  piazza.  The  catafalque  was  draped 
in  yellow,  the  royal  color,  and  the  same  coloring  was 
used  in  the  decorations  of  the  room.  The  Princess' 
robe  was  made  of  soft,  white  silk  trimmed  with  row 
after  row  of  dainty  Valenciennes  lace;  a  thin  white 
tulle  veil  was  fastened  to  the  coils  of  her  wavy  black 
hair  and  fell  over  her  face  and  robe.  Her  hands 
clasped  a  white  prayerbook: 

And  on  her  lips  the  faint  smile  almost  said, 

No  one  knows  life's  secret — but  the  happy  dead." 

She  did  not  look  like  one  dead,  but  like  a  pretty 
sleeping  bride.  Three  women  on  either  side  of  the 


Princess  Kaiulani 


HAWAII    AND    HONOLULU  319 

catafalque  wore  deep  yellow  collars  made  of  birds' 
feathers,  and  waved  Kahilis  over  the  Princess.  They 
looked  like  feather  dusters  with  long  handles.  Kahilis 
very  early  became  the  sign  of  rank  and  every  chief 
was  accompanied  by  his  Kahilis  bearers.  They  are 
made  of  all  kinds  of  feathers;  some  of  the  latest  are 
made  of  silk  trimmed  with  ribbons;  the  pole  of  the 
Kahilis  was  often  a  spear  made  of  the  native  coa 
wood.  Some  of  the  earliest  were  made  of  tortoise 
shell.  It  was  thought  a  mark  of  honor  for  a  con- 
queror to  put  a  bone  of  his  enemy  in  the  handle  of 
his  Kahilis. 

It  was  a  sad  occasion  when  the  Princess'  remains 
were  taken  from  her  home  at  midnight,  accompanied 
only  by  a  few  friends  and  relatives.  The  cortege 
wended  its  way  through  the  streets  guided  by  the  light 
of  torches,  for  the  night  was  very  dark,  and  the  band 
played  a  low,  soft  dirge  all  the  waj^  to  the  Kawaia- 
hao  Church,  where  the  Royal  family  had  been  devout 
worshipers  for  years.  This  church  is  the  oldest  on 
the  islands,  having  been  founded  by  the  first  ten  con- 
verts to  Christianity  in  1825.  The  present  edifice 
was  dedicated  in  1842;  the  faithful  worshipers  not 
only  quarried  the  stone  but  carried  it  all  by  hand  to 
build  it. 

The  casket  was  placed  upon  a  bed  of  roses  before 
the  high  altar  and  a  constant  stream  of  people  filed 
past  it  from  early  Friday  morning  until  Sunday  after- 
noon, when,  after  a  short  but  impressive  service,  it 


320     NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

was  borne  from  the  church  and  placed  in  a  hearse 
drawn  by  two  hundred  barefooted  Hawaiian  boys 
dressed  in  white  duck  suits  and  hats  of  the  same  color. 
They  drew  it  up  the  long  winding  road  to  the  top  of 
the  bluff  where  the  Royal  Mausoleum  stands,  the 
Royal  Hawaiian  band  playing  the  dirge.  Following 
the  hearse  were  the  Royal  coaches,  in  the  first  of  which 
was  Mr.  Cleghorn,  the  Princess'  stepfather,  in  the  sec- 
ond, Queen  Kapiolani,  widow  of  King  Kalakaua. 
The  third  was  empty  as  Liliuokalani  was  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.,  and  the  fourth  carried  two  young  cousins 
of  the  Princess.  Then  came  President  Dole's  car- 
riage and  those  of  the  other  government  officials  and 
lastly,  a  long  line  of  natives  on  foot,  wearing  Mother 
Hubbard  wrappers,  with  long  strings  of  yellow  blos- 
soms wound  around  their  hats  and  necks,  wailing  and 
moaning  piteously.  When  the  casket  was  placed  be- 
side those  of  the  other  Royal  dead  a  short  prayer  was 
said,  and  the  great  doors  of  the  Mausoleum  were 
swung  shut. 

Thus  ended  the  career  of  this  charming  young 
woman,  who  would  have  been  Queen  of  Hawaii  had 
not  cruel  fate  ruled  otherwise. 

The  Kinau  plies  between  Honolulu  and  Hilo  where 
a  stage  carries  one  to  the  volcano  of  Kilauea.  I  was 
told  this  little  vessel  had  been  thoroughly  overhauled 
and  was  very  comfortable  and  steady-going;  it  lacked 
all  these  admirable  qualities  when  I  took  the  journey 
to  the  volcano  in  the  spring  of  1899,  for  at  that  time 


HAWAII   AND    HONOLULU 

she  rolled,  pitched  and  floundered  about  in  a  way  that 
was  amazing  even  to  old  travelers. 

We  started  at  two  in  the  afternoon.  A  trip  among 
the  islands  would  have  been  delightful  if  we  could 
have  remained  in  an  upright  position  long  enough  to 
look  at  them,  but  glimpses  caught  at  an  angle  of 
forty-five  degrees  are  not  at  all  satisfactory.  Our 
worst  experience  was  when  we  came  to  the  Island  of 
Maui,  the  second  largest  in  the  group.  The  water 
was  too  shallow  for  the  Kinau  to  make  the  dock  so 
she  anchored  about  a  mile  from  shore.  The  wind  was 
blowing  hard  and  the  ocean  was  rough ;  it  seemed  as  if 
the  vessel  would  go  to  pieces.  There  we  stayed  for 
three  hours  while  two  hundred  head  of  cattle  were 
swum  out  to  the  vessel  in  squads  of  six,  tied  to  small 
boats,  a  rope  fastened  securely  around  their  horns  by 
which  they  were  pulled  up  and  swung  on  board.  They 
all  came  down  sprawling  on  the  deck  half  dead  from 
their  swim  in  the  rough  sea  and  from  the  salt  water 
they  had  swallowed.  Some  horses  were  put  aboard 
by  means  of  slings;  they  trembled  and  seemed  to 
suffer  more  than  the  cattle.  The  way  these  poor 
dumb  brutes  were  treated  called  forth  many  protesta- 
tions from  the  passengers.  The  Captain  tried  to  con- 
sole us  by  telling  us  it  was  the  only  way  traffic  could 
be  carried  on  between  the  islands  because  the  shallow 
water  and  coral  reefs  made  it  unsafe  for  vessels  of 
any  size  to  approach  the  shore. 

Early  in  the  morning  we  landed  at  Hilo,  the  prin- 


NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE    WORLD 

cipal  town  of  Hawaii,  the  largest  island  and  the  one 
for  which  the  group  is  collectively  named.  Hilo  is 
a  pretty  little  town  of  7000  inhabitants. 

After  breakfast  at  the  Hilo  Hotel  we  set  out  on 
the  thirty-mile  ride  to  the  Volcano  House.  This  was 
the  most  enjoyable  part  of  the  whole  journey.  The 
road  ran  near  some  of  the  largest  coffee  and  sugar 
plantations  on  the  island,  through  a  luxuriant  tropical 
jungle  of  vines,  trees,  palms  and  ferns.  The  lumber- 
ing old  stage  drawn  by  four  horses  was  a  little  shaky 
at  times,  as  the  road  was  hilly  and  rough  in  places 
and  the  horses  went  in  all  sorts  of  gaits  from  a  walk 
to  a  gallop. 

At  3  P.  M.  the  Volcano  House  was  reached. 
Good  saddle  horses  were  brought  for  those  of  the 
party  who  wanted  them  for  the  three-mile  trip  across 
the  cooled  lava,  which  extended  for  miles  in  all  di- 
rections to  the  crater, — a  tremendous  hole  in  the 
ground  nine  miles  in  circumference  and  600  feet  deep, 
throwing  up  clouds  of  black  smoke  and  sulphurous 
gases  so  stifling  and  hot  that  we  were  unable  to  go 
very  near  it.  In  places  the  crust  around  the  crater 
was  so  hot  we  could  not  step  on  it.  There  were  rum- 
bling sounds  heard  in  the  crater  and  frequent  earth- 
quakes in  the  neighborhood.  This  indicated  the  ap- 
proaching eruption  which  took  place  three  months 
later,  July  4,  1899,  and  has  occurred  at  intervals  ever 
since. 

Honolulu  had  changed  greatly  since  I  visited  it  in 


Kawaiahao  Church 

Where  Princess  Kaiulani's  Funeral  was  Held 


Funeral  Procession  of  Princess  Kaiulani 


HAWAII    AND    HONOLULU  323 

1897,  the  last  year  of  monarchial  rule,  and  I  longed 
for  the  sleepy-go-easy  air  of  the  old  days  rather  than 
its  prevailing  improved  and  modernized  condition  and 
the  savor  of  American  hustle. 

I  stopped  at  the  Royal  Hawaiian  Hotel,  formerly 
owned  by  the  government  but  now  under  the  manage- 
ment of  a  stock  company.  At  night  the  grounds  and 
the  band  stand,  which  attracts  much  attention  on  ac- 
count of  its  oriental  appearance,  were  brilliantly 
lighted  with  electric  lights  creating  a  charming  effect 
as  they  gleamed  through  the  tropical  foliage.  The 
Royal  Hawaiian  Band,  now  called  the  Government 
Band,  played  in  the  evening  for  the  guests.  There  were 
thirty  pieces  in  the  band  and  two  native  women  vocal- 
ists, and  the  music  was  delightful,  the  singing  of  the 
women  being  the  most  enjoyable  feature  of  the  con- 
cert. Their  deep,  sweet-toned  voices  could  be  heard 
distinctly  as  ttiey  sang  song  after  song  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  the  band  and  were  often  called  upon  to 
repeat  them  as  encores. 

The  Hawaiians  are  wonderful  musicians ;  their  fav- 
orite instrument  is  a  small  guitar  called  a  "  ukulele,'* 
which  is  played  as  an  accompaniment  for  their  songs. 
The  prettiest  of  these  songs  are  those  sung  to  accom- 
pany the  hula,  the  native  dance.  The  dance  itself  is 
not  artistic ;  and  there  are  very  few  changes  in  it,  and 
the  strains  are  repeated  over  and  over  again  until  the 
dance  is  finished. 

Honolulu  has  some  fine  new  hotels.     I  went  out  to 


NEWEST    WAY   ROUND    THE   WORLD 

Waikiki,  its  popular  seaside  resort,  and  had  luncheon: 
at  the  Moana.  It  is  four  stories  in  height  with  all  the 
latest  improvements;  the  dining  room  extends  out 
over  the  sea  so  that  the  guests  can  enjoy  the  breezes 
while  eating.  It  has  a  surf -bathing  place  lighted  by 
electricity,  as  the  cool  evenings  are  the  only  enjoyable 
time  for  bathing. 

Late  in  the  afternoon,  when  I  returned  to  the 
steamer,  a  mixed  crowd  was  on  the  dock  and  the  native 
women  were  selling  long  strings  of  blossoms  of  every 
color  called  "  leis."  These  "  leis,"  made  to  wear  as 
hat  bands  and  necklaces,  are  sometimes  seashells  or 
seeds  and  are  given  to  friends  on  their  departure. 
This  is  a  Hawaiian  custom  and  is  a  means  of  showing 
their  regard  for  their  friends  when  they  bid  them 
good-by.  Often  one  sees  people  on  the  decks  of  de- 
parting vessels  with  twenty-five  or  thirty  of  these 
gorgeous  flower  strings  wrapped  about  them. 

As  the  steamer  moved  out  from  the  dock  and  turned 
its  nose  seaward,  the  Government  Band  that  plays 
at  the  departure  of  every  ocean  steamer  struck  up 
"  America."  This  was  the  signal  for  general  rejoic- 
ing; the  passengers  clapped  their  hands  and  waved 
their  handkerchiefs  to  those  on  shore  until  Honolulu 
faded  in  the  dim  distance.  Forward  seated  on  the 
deck  were  the  Chinese  passengers,  chatting,  smoking 
and  gambling.  The  clinking  sound  made  by  the 
dominoes  as  they  shoved  them  about  could  be  heard 
night  and  day,  for  they  never  ceased  gambling 


HAWAII    AND    HONOLULU  325 

through  the  whole  voyage.  All  the  servants  and 
sailors  on  board  were  Chinese.  They  are  employed  on 
nearly  all  the  steamers  sailing  between  San  Francisco 
and  the  Orient  as  they  are  more  obliging  and  faithful 
and  do  their  work  just  as  well  as  other  nationalities. 


CHAPTER   TWENTY-SEVEN 

CALIFORNIA— AND  THE  HOME  OF  THE  MORMONS 

TT)  EFORE  a  Chinaman  sails  for  America  the  steam- 
•^  ship  company  that  carries  him  signs  a  contract 
that  it  will  bring  either  him  or  his  dead  body  back  to 
China;  for  the  Chinese  believe  if  they  are  not  buried 
in  Chinese  soil  they  will  remain  in  a  state  of  eternal 
torment,  and  when  any  of  them  die  at  sea  the  bodies 
are  embalmed  by  the  surgeon,  put  into  a  coffin  and 
sealed  up,  and  either  set  on  the  forward  end  of  the 
steamer  with  a  tarpaulin  thrown  over  them  or  hoisted 
into  one  of  the  lifeboats,  and  when  the  steamer  arrives 
at  Hongkong  turned  over  to  friends  who  await  them. 
On  the  morning  of  the  sixteenth  day  after  leaving 
Yokohama,  we  steamed  through  the  Golden  Gate  and 
entered  the  harbor  of  San  Francisco.  As  soon  as  we 
were  alongside  the  dock  our  baggage  was  carried  to 
the  customs  house,  an  annoying  experience  for  us 
owing  to  two  young  men  from  New  York  who  seemed 
to  have  more  money  than  brains.  They  had  arrived 
on  the  steamer  just  ahead  of  us  and  boasted  of  how 
many  bolts  of  silk  and  hundreds  of  cigars  they  had 
brought  through  the  customs  house  in  the  face  of  the 
officers.  This  had  found  its  way  into  the  San  Fran- 
cisco newspapers  and  made  trouble  for  the  customs 

326 


CALIFORNIA— AND    HOME    OF    MORMONS     327 

house,  so  when  our  steamer  arrived  the  inspectors 
made  up  for  their  former  slackness  by  tearing  our 
baggage  to  pieces  and  treating  us  all  as  if  we  were 
smugglers. 

Still  another  unpleasantness  awaited  us.  It  was 
almost  impossible  to  find  hotel  accommodations,  as  the 
city  was  full  of  winter  visitors  and  the  passengers  for 
two  ships  about  to  sail  for  the  Orient.  After  search- 
ing for  nearly  half  a  day  I  found  a  suite  of  four 
rooms  at  the  Grand  Hotel.  I  next  turned  my  atten- 
tion to  my  four  trunks,  which  were  in  a  chaotic  state 
after  the  pulling  over  they  had  had  at  the  customs 
house.  I  am  not  a  globe-trotter  who  travels  with 
hand-bags  and  dress-suit  cases.  I  tried  one  trip 
equipped  in  this  way  and  that  was  enough.  One 
never  knows  on  a  trip  around  the  world  whom  one 
will  meet  or  where  one  will  be  invited.  A  lady  should 
carry  enough  baggage  with  her  always  to  be  neat  and 
clean,  and  have  pretty,  stylish  gowns  for  extra 
occasions. 

The  arduous  task  of  shaking  the  wrinkles  out  of  my 
clothes  was  only  begun  when  I  heard  a  knock  at  the 
door.  Thinking  it  one  of  the  servants  I  said,  "  Come 
in,"  and  who  should  walk  in  but  two  reporters  from 
the  San  Francisco  Examiner f  who  said  they  had  been 
searching  for  me  in  every  hotel  and  boarding-house  in 
the  city.  When  the  paper  appeared  next  morning  it 
contained  my  photograph  and  an  article  nearly  two 
columns  long.  This  paper  is  an  exponent  of  the 


328        NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

"  New  Journalism  "  and  the  columns  were  headed  in 
this  way:  "A  Woman  Encircles  the  Globe  five 
times.  She  has  gone  through  the  Customs  House  two 
hundred  times;  visited  five  thousand  mosques  and 
temples;  rejected  one  hundred  proposals  of  mar- 
riage; met  forty  rulers  of  the  earth;  visited  nearly 
every  capital  of  the  world;  rode  in  every  known 
vehicle ;  four  trunks  of  Parisian  gowns." 

San  Francisco  before  its  devastation  was  one  of  our 
most  attractive  cities.  It  had  hundreds  of  handsome 
buildings,  wide  sloping  streets,  elegant  shops,  good 
hotels  and  the  best  of  transportation.  Its  wealthy 
aristocrats  lived  on  Nob  Hill  in  palatial  residences 
with  yards  full  of  all  kinds  of  flowers.  The  top  of 
the  hill  was  reached  by  a  grip-car  line  which  ran 
smoothly  up  and  down  it.  This  was  the  first  cable 
street-railway  constructed.  Nob  Hill  and  the  entire 
business  district  were  swept  by  the  great  fire  of  April 
18,  1906,  and  a  new  and  more  beautiful  city  is  blos- 
soming from  the  ruins. 

The  views  in  and  around  San  Francisco  were  and 
are  unsurpassed  anywhere.  Its  large  parks,  Botan- 
ical and  Zoological  Gardens,  the  famous  Sutro 
Heights  and  Baths,  the  Seal  Rocks  and  Cliff  House, 
besides  many  other  interesting  places  are  a  constant 
attraction  for  travelers.  Strangers  who  came  in  the 
old  days  sought  first  of  all  a  trip  to  Chinatown,  a  novel 
place,  but  much  too  clean  and  orderly  for  a  real 
Chinatown. 


CALIFORNIA— AND    HOME    OF    MORMONS     329 

Not  only  San  Francisco,  but  the  whole  of  Cali- 
fornia, had  advanced  amazingly  since  the  first  time  I 
visited  it.  Trusting  that  by  way  of  comparison  with 
the  Great  Siberian  Railroad  it  may  interest  my  read- 
ers to  know  how  we  traveled  on  our  first  overland  rail- 
road to  California,  I  will  recall  my  experience  in 
journeying  over  the  road  at  that  early  time. 

At  that  time  there  was  but  one  railroad  and  no 
through  trains  to  California.  One  left  Chicago  by 
either  the  Rock  Island  or  the  Burlington  Railroad 
leading  out  of  Illinois,  across  Iowa,  to  Omaha,  where 
passengers  going  to  California  changed  for  the  Over- 
land train,  which  was  composed  of  three  sleepers  and 
two  baggage  cars  drawn  by  one  engine.  However, 
in  some  places  where  the  snow  was  deep  and  the  grade 
steep,  two  engines  were  necessary. 

The  railroad  was  in  two  divisions,  called  the  Union 
Pacific  and  the  Central  Pacific,  and  the  passengers 
changed  cars  at  Ogden,  where  the  two  roads  met.  The 
fastest  time  made  by  any  of  the  trains  between  Omaha 
and  San  Francisco  was  sixteen  miles  per  hour,  and  it 
was  a  seven-day  trip  from  Chicago  to  San  Francisco. 
I  was  eleven  days  going  on  account  of  land  slides  and 
snow  banks.  The  tickets  cost  $150  in  gold  each  way, 
and  for  a  double  berth  in  the  sleeping  cars,  $50  each 
way.  For  nearly  half  the  distance  the  road  ran  across 
the  plains  stretching  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  and 
the  roadbed  was  as  smooth  as  a  floor.  The  highest 
altitude  attained  was  6000  feet,  but  the  ascent  was  so 


330      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

gradual  no  one  would  ever  have  known  the  highest 
point  if  the  conductor  of  the  train  had  not  an- 
nounced it. 

The  passengers  took  their  meals  at  the  railroad 
stations,  there  were  no  dining  cars  in  the  United  States 
at  that  time.  The  bills  of  fare  offered  little  variety: 
usually  buffalo  steaks  or  roast  bear-meat,  as  black  as 
pitch  and  as  tough  as  leather ;  watery  potatoes,  as  most 
of  them  had  been  frozen;  bread,  poorly  baked,  and 
rancid  butter;  and  black,  muddy  coffee  with  the  sugar 
cooked  in  it,  without  milk  or  cream.  The  desserts 
were  of  cooked,  dried  fruits  prepared  in  different 
ways.  All  meals  were  $1. 

When  we  were  half  way  across  Nebraska  the  In- 
dians began  to  come  to  the  stations  to  beg ;  often  there 
would  be  two  or  three  hundred  of  them;  they  were 
exceedingly  filthy 'and  made  our  stay  at  the  stations 
unpleasant,  as  the  odor  from  their  bodies  was  really 
nauseating.  Among  the  thousands  that  I  saw  only 
two  had  anything  remarkable  about  them:  a  woman 
128  years  of  age  and  her  grandson  80  years  of  age. 
The  latter  had  been  sent  five  times  to  Washington, 
D.  C.,  to  intercede  for  the  Indians  in  regard  to  lands 
and  other  privileges  that  they  wished  the  United 
States  to  grant  them.  The  old  lady  was  treated 
kindly  by  the  conductors  of  the  trains,  who  allowed 
her  to  go  inside  the  cars  and  beg  from  the  passengers. 
She  knew  but  one  English  word  and  that  was  "  green- 
backs." This  she  would  yell  at  the  top  of  her  voice 


Brigham  Young 


CALIFORNIA— AND    HOME    OF    MORMONS     331 

at  every  passenger.  For  several  years  after  the  close 
of  our  civil  war  the  five  and  ten-cent  pieces  were  paper 
and  all  the  metal  money  in  circulation  was  bogus. 
This  the  old  lady  had  found  out  by  sad  experience,  as 
she  had  been  fooled  by  it  a  number  of  times,  and  that 
was  the  reason  she  insisted  on  everybody  giving  her 
greenbacks.  She  was  known  all  along  the  railroad  on 
account  of  her  great  age.  As  soon  as  the  passengers 
left  Omaha  they  were  on  the  lookout  for  "  Old  Green- 
backs," as  she  was  called. 

From  the  car  window  we  could  see  innumerable 
little  prairie-dogs  scampering  to  and  from  their  bur- 
rows in  the  ground.  Jack  rabbits  were  plentiful,  too, 
and  they  would  jump  from  under  the  sage-brush  and 
go  bounding  across  the  plains.  In  Wyoming  there 
were  thousands  of  antelopes.  They  were  not  afraid 
of  the  train  and  would  come  within  a  few  yards  of  it, 
looking  wonderingly  out  of  their  great,  black,  dreamy 
eyes. 

It  was  the  first  of  December  and  the  air  was  crisp 
and  cold,  but  the  snow  was  deep  only  in  places.  The 
alkali  dust  came  into  the  train  in  clouds,  chapping  our 
hands  and  faces  until  they  were  painful.  There  was 
not  much  change  in  the  scenery  until  we  reached  Utah ; 
then  the  country  was  more  broken  and  there  were 
many  hills  and  mountains  near  the  railroad,  some  of 
which  were  very  peculiar  in  shape. 

We  arrived  at  Ogden  early  in  the  morning.  Here 
I  left  the  Overland  train  and  took  a  narrow-gauge 


332      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

railroad  to  Salt  Lake  City,  a  distance  of  thirty 
miles. 

After  the  Mormons  were  driven  out  of  the  Eastern 
states  in  the  forties  they  turned  their  faces  westward 
under  the  leadership  of  Brigham  Young,  and  settled 
in  Utah,  which  was  nothing  but  a  wilderness,  hundreds 
of  miles  from  civilization.  They  suffered  every  kind 
of  hardship  and  privations  for  the  privilege  of  prac- 
ticing polygamy  undisturbed,  and  this  they  did  for 
many  years  as  it  was  difficult  to  reach  them  arid  took 
months  of  hard  travel  by  team  to  cross  the  plains  be- 
fore the  railroad  was  built. 

I  had  read  how  Brigham  Young  had  made  the 
wilderness  blossom  like  a  rose.  Utah,  with  its  pretty 
farm  houses  and  little  villages,  certainly  looked  smil- 
ing and  beautiful  as  a  new-blown  rose  on  this  bright 
December  morning  after  my  long  journey  across  an 
unsettled  and  desolate  country. 

Salt  Lake  City,  the  capital  of  Utah,  is  situated  two 
miles  from  Great  Salt  Lake.  It  was  here  the  Mor- 
mons first  settled  and  it  has  been  the  headquarters  of 
the  Mormon  Church  ever  since  they  came  to  Utah. 
At  this  time  it  had  only  5000  inhabitants.  It  was 
pleasantly  situated,  not  far  from  the  mountains.  One 
of  the  many  curious  things  about  it  and  one  that  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  strangers,  was  the  way  the 
water  was  distributed  over  it.  It  came  from  springs 
high  up  in  the  mountains  and  ran  through  open 
wooden  troughs  along  the  sides  of  the  streets.  These 


Copyright,  1901,  The  Johnson  Co.,  Salt  Lake  City. 

Brig  ham  Young  and  His  Wives 


CALIFORNIA— AND    HOME    OF    MORMONS     333 

troughs  were  sunk  in  the  ground  until  they  were  level 
with  the  streets.  The  wrater  was  as  clear  as  crystal 
and  sparkled  like  diamonds  in  the  sunlight  as  it 
rushed  along,  for  most  of  the  streets  were  quite 
sloping. 

The  hotels  were  the  Townsend  House,  under  the 
management  of  Mormons,  and  the  Walker  House, 
under  the  management  of  Gentiles.  I  stopped  at  the 
latter  but  regretted  that  I  did  not  go  to  the  Mormon 
house,  as  it  was  much  the  better.  As  soon  as  I  had 
tidied  up  and  put  on  one  of  my  smartest  gowns,  I 
went  to  call  on  Brigham  Young,  the  famous  Mormon 
leader,  who  had  nineteen  wives  and  wras  reputed  to 
have  sixty  children.  However,  I  met  people  there  who 
declared  this  was  an  exaggeration  and  that  he  was  not 
the  father  of  more  than  half  this  number.  As  far  as 
any  one  knew  he  lived  harmoniously  with  eighteen  of 
his  wives.  Ann  Eliza,  his  nineteenth  wife,  gave  him 
considerable  trouble  and  he  divorced  her ;  Amelia,  his 
favorite  wife,  lived  in  a  grand  mansion  by  herself,  sur- 
rounded by  every  luxury  that  money  could  buy. 

I  first  went  to  Mr.  Young's  residence,  the  Bee  Hive, 
a  twro-story  wooden  building  with  a  piazza  around  it, 
and  here  I  was  told  that  Mr.  Young  was  down  at  the 
Lion,  which  appeared  to  be  both  a  residence  and  an 
office-building  combined. 

I  was  shown  into  a  small  reception  room  by  a  serv- 
ant, who  took  my  card  to  Mr.  Young.  I  had  pic- 
tured him  in  my  imagination  to  be  at  least  six  feet  tall, 


334      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

with  broad  shoulders  and  commanding  appearance. 
I  was  never  more  astonished  in  my  life.  The  man 
who  entered  and  walked  across  the  room  to  where  I 
sat  was  not  more  than  five  feet  six  or  eight  inches  in 
height,  with  sandy  hair  slightly  gray,  a  light  com- 
plexion and  blue  eyes;  he  had  very  short  arms  and 
shapely  hands  as  white  and  dimpled  as  a  baby's.  He 
wore  a  cinnamon  brown  broadcloth  suit;  the  trousers 
bagged  at  the  knees  and  looked  as  if  they  had  been 
worn  ever  since  he  came  to  Utah,  as  they  were  quite 
threadbare  in  places.  He  had  on  neither  collar  nor 
cuffs,  but  a  red  bandana  handkerchief  was  knotted 
around  his  neck.  Shaking  both  of  my  hands  at  once, 
he  said:  "  You  are  the  rosiest-cheeked  little  girl  I  have 
seen  in  many  a  day.  How  old  do  you  think  I  am, 
little  girl? "  he  asked.  I  told  him  I  was  not  good  at 
guessing  people's  ages  but  judging  from  his  looks 
and  the  elasticity  of  his  step  I  should  not  think  he  was 
over  thirty  years  old.  This  pleased  him  immensely. 
Laughing  heartily  he  said,  "  I  was  seventy-five  years 
old  my  last  birthday."  Turning  around  he  placed  his 
hand  on  the  knob  of  a  door  near  by.  "  Now,  I  am 
going  to  give  you  a  great  surprise,"  he  said,  "  some- 
thing that  I  cannot  give  people  every  day.  I  am  go- 
ing to  introduce  you  to  all  of  my  deacons.  We  are 
holding  a  conference  to  decide  upon  a  place  for  a  new 
Mormon  city,  as  we  expect  to  move  to  New  Mexico 
some  time  in  the  near  future."  I  arose  and  followed 
him  into  the  next  room  where  seated  around  a  lot  of 


The  Lion  House 


The  Bee  Hive 
Homes  of  'Brigham  Young 


CALIFORNIA— AND    HOME    OF    MORMONS     335 

common  wooden  desks,  such  as  you  see  in  backwoods 
schoolhouses,  were,  I  should  say,  forty  men,  the  burli- 
est lot  of  old  Westerners  I  ever  remember  seeing.  Xot 
one  of  them  arose  as  I  was  introduced  to  them,  but 
they  grabbed  their  great  moppy  hair  to  keep  it  from 
falling  over  their  faces  as  they  made  their  bow.  I 
concealed  my  disgust  for  these  men  as  best  I  could 
and  thanked  Mr.  Young  for  the  surprise  he  had  given 
me,  which  it  certainly  was. 

When  I  rose  to  go  Mr.  Young  walked  down  the 
hall  with  me  to  the  door  and  shook  my  hand  several 
times.  He  then  came  out  on  the  steps  and  again 
shook  my  hand  several  times.  I  then  hastened  down 
the  steps  waving  him  good-by  as  I  did  so.  He  con- 
tinued to  bow  and  bow  and  bow  until  I  reached  the 
street.  I  had  begun  to  think  he  was  going  to  ask  me 
to  be  his  twentieth  wife. 

I  then  visited  the  great  tabernacle,  a  wonderful 
building — I  know  of  no  other  like  it.  It  is  oval  in 
shape  and  will  seat  12,000  people  comfortably.  This 
is  the  meeting  place  of  the  Mormons.  A  pin  dropped 
at  one  end  of  it  can  be  distinctly  heard  at  the  other. 
A  person  reading  in  the  most  ordinary  tone  of  voice 
can  be  heard  in  any  part  of  it,  the  acoustic  properties 
are  so  perfect.  Here  is  a  wonderful  organ,  one  of 
the  largest  in  the  world.  When  it  is  played  the  vibra- 
tion shakes  the  great  edifice  from  center  to  circum- 
ference and  it  can  be  heard  for  many  blocks  away. 
The  temple  and  other  of  their  notable  buildings  were 


only  half  completed  at  this  time.  Since  the  temple 
was  completed  a  few  years  ago  no  one  is  ever  allowed 
to  enter  it  but  high  Mormon  officials,  as  it  contains 
the  records  and  secrets  of  the  Mormon  Church. 

As  I  was  wandering  about  the  streets  looking  at  the 
shops  and  other  things  that  attracted  my  attention,  I 
noticed  a  restaurant.  Seeing  it  was  in  charge  of  a 
woman,  I  went  in  and  made  some  inquiries  about 
places  in  the  neighborhood  I  had  failed  to  find.  She 
was  like  all  Westerners  used  to  be,  and  treated  me 
more  like  a  friend  than  a  stranger.  She  insisted  that  I 
be  seated  and  then  sat  down  beside  me.  There  was 
something  attractive  about  her — she  had  a  beautiful 
complexion  and  bright  black  eyes,  and  she  seemed  so 
happy  I  could  not  help  talking  to  her. 

In  the  course  of  conversation  she  told  me  that  she 
was  the  daughter  of  a  Mormon  and  that  she  had  been 
born  and  brought  up  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and  of  course 
she  had  married  a  Mormon  before  she  was  sixteen 
years  old ;  she  said  she  was  the  happy  mother  of  eleven 
children,  the  eldest  not  yet  twenty-three  years  old. 
She  told  of  the  struggles  she  and  her  husband  had  had 
through  life  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door,  and  how 
she  had  risen  from  her  bed  when  her  babies  were  only 
a  few  days  old,  for  they  were  not  in  a  position  to  hire 
help.  She  said  it  had  been  only  a  little  more  than  a 
year  since  their  circumstances  had  been  changed  for 
the  better  by  the  death  of  a  relative  who  had  left  them 
a  small  fortune. 


Exterior 


Interior;    Shozving  the  Great  Organ  of  12,000  Pipes 
The  Mormon  Tabernacle,  Salt  Lake  City 


CALIFORNIA— AND    HOME    OF    MORMONS     337 

Several  times  while  we  were  talking  she  would  stop 
as  if  in  deep  meditation.  After  one  of  these  thought- 
ful moods  she  looked  up  and  clasped  her  hands  to- 
gether, her  cheeks  flushed  and  her  eyes  fairly  dancing 
with  delight,  as  she  said,  "  We  are  going  to  have  a 
wedding  at  our  house  this  week;  it  is  going  to  be  the 
happiest  day  of  my  life;  my  husband  is  going  to  be 
married  to  a  girl  not  yet  eighteen." 

"  Oh,"  I  said,  "  how  can  you  tolerate  anything  in 
him  so  perfectly  horrible !  " 

"My  dear  woman,"  she  replied,  "you  were  not 
brought  up  in  the  Mormon  religion  or  you  would 
think  very  differently  about  it.  I,  with  all  of  my 
eleven  children,  am  going  to  stand  up  with  them,  and 
we  are  going  to  have  a  great  feast  after  the  wedding 
ceremony.  It  will  bring  untold  happiness  into  our 
home,  for  it  was  the  will  of  God  or  it  never  would 
have  happened." 

This  she  considered  such  conclusive  evidence  I  said 
nothing  more  and  bade  her  good  day.  She  went 
about  her  work  humming  a  tune,  thinking  only  of  the 
bright  future  she  was  certain  was  before  her. 


CHAPTER   TWENTY-EIGHT 

THE   LAND   OF   FRUIT  AND   FLOWERS 

% 

\\  THEN  I  turned  my  face  westward  again  I  found 
*  *  the  Overland  train  exactly  like  the  one  I  had 
left  at  Ogden.  The  passengers,  with  few  exceptions, 
were  invalids  on  the  way  to  California  for  their  health. 
Aside  from  the  wonderful  scenery,  there  was  little  to 
interest  one  along  the  way.  The  passengers  sat  on 
the  platforms  of  the  cars  and  visited  with  each  other, 
for  this  was  before  the  day  of  observation  cars. 

After  leaving  Ogden  we  took  on  no  new  passengers 
until  we  reached  Reno,  Nevada.  Here  several  came 
on  board.  Among  them  was  Baron  Rothschild  of 
London,  England,  who  had  invested  extensively  in 
mines  in  both  Nevada  and  California.  He  was  ac- 
companied by  Flood  and  O'Brien  of  San  Francisco, 
who  were  partners  in  the  mining  business  for  years 
and  who  were  noted  the  world  over  not  only  for  their 
great  wealth  but  for  the  reckless  way  they  speculated 
and  for  the  amount  of  whisky  they  could  drink. 

None  of  the  new  passengers  attracted  our  attention 
from  a  single  Chinaman  who  boarded  the  train  here. 
He  was  a  famous  gambler  of  Virginia  City,  worth 
several  millions.  Many  of  the  passengers,  like  my- 
self, had  never  seen  a  Chinaman  before,  as  there  was 
not  one  in  the  Eastern  States  at  that  time.  We  were 

338 


THE    LAND    OF    FRUIT    AND    FLOWERS       339 

all  thoroughly  disgusted  at  the  idea  of  traveling  in  the 
Pullman  cars  with  a  Chinaman,  but  it  was  not  until 
the  train  stopped  for  dinner  that  the  indignation  of 
the  passengers  was  fully  aroused.  Our  Mogul  China* 
man  removed  all  of  his  gorgeous  outer  garments  and 
came  into  the  dining-room  in  a  long  white  gown,  split 
up  the  sides  like  a  man's  night  shirt.  His  dishabille 
appearance  so  horrified  some  of  the  passengers  they 
left  the  dining-room  without  finishing  their  meal,  de- 
claring lasting  vengeance  against  the  railroad  com- 
pany for  allowing  Chinamen  to  travel  first  class  or  to 
eat  in  the  dining-rooms  with  first  class  passengers. 

The  Reno  passengers  brought  quantities  of  fleas 
into  the  cars.  They  tormented  us  Easterners  terribly. 
We  sat  up  in  our  berths  all  night  fighting  them  while 
these  Westerners  slept  soundly.  We  were  glad 
enough  this  would  be  our  last  night  on  the  train. 

When  daylight  came  the  earth  was  fresh  and  green, 
the  sun  rose  bright  and  warm  and  everything  seemed 
cheerful;  we  were  in  the  land  of  fruit  and  flowers. 
The  first  large  city  was  Sacramento.  Hacks  were 
waiting  for  the  passengers  and  well-dressed  people 
were  standing  on  the  platform  at  the  station.  It 
looked  like  civilization  again ;  we  had  seen  nothing  like 
this  since  we  left  Omaha.  The  train  stopped  long 
enough  at  the  station  for  us  to  buy  up  all  the  flea- 
powder  the  booth-keepers  had  in  stock.  These  pests 
kept  getting  thicker  and  thicker  all  the  time,  Cali- 
fornia was  a  perfect  hotbed  for  them. 


340      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

There  were  frequent  showers  during  the  forenoon. 
Sometimes  it  was  so  dark  the  train  would  slow  down 
to  a  walking  pace.  Our  next  long  stop  was  at  Stock- 
ton, where  we  had  dinner.  The  attraction  there  was 
an  enormous,  savage  grizzly  bear  weighing  more  than 
500  pounds,  in  a  wooden  cage.  The  passengers 
bought  quantities  of  food  and  fed  him. 

I  changed  cars  at  Niles,  fifty  miles  east  of  San 
Francisco,  and  went  to  San  Jose,  where  I  was  met  by 
my  friend,  and  former  school  teacher,  Mrs.  C.  S. 
Kendall  whose  husband  was  once  President  of  Lom- 
bard College  at  Galesburg,  Illinois.  As  we  were 
leaving  the  train  we  saw  near  by  more  than  an  acre  of 
ground  covered  with  Chinamen  washing  out  of  doors. 
They  sloshed  the  clothes  up  and  down  in  the  tubs  in- 
stead of  rubbing  them  on  a  board.  These  were  the 
first  Chinese  laundrymen  I  had  ever  seen. 

My  room  at  the  hotel  had  been  engaged  some  days 
before  my  arrival.  I  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  it 
fitted  up  for  a  sick  person,  as  I  was  one  of  the  health- 
iest young  girls  that  ever  went  to  California.  When 
I  inquired  at  the  hotel  office  why  it  was  furnished  in 
this  way,  I  was  told  that  nearly  all  the  people  who 
came  from  the  States  were  invalids,  and  it  saved  both 
time  and  trouble  to  get  things  ready  before  they  ar- 
rived. (All  the  country  east  of  Omaha  was  States, 
while  all  west  of  it  was  territories,  with  the  exception 
of  California,  at  this  time).  I  found  all  the  hotels 
similarly  arranged  wherever  I  went.  They  all  re- 


o 
o 

OS 

•<s> 

O 

| 
fci 


THE    LAND    OF    FRUIT    AND    FLOWERS     341 

sembled  hospitals,  and  people  were  sick  and  dying  in 
them  all  the  time. 

I  was  delighted  with  San  Jose;  it  was  such  a  flower 
garden.  The  dwellings  were  plain  but  large  and  com- 
fortable. The  grounds  around  them  were  like  parks 
and  full  of  all  kinds  of  flowers.  On  every  piazza 
hung  a  knife  or  a  pair  of  shears  and  all  who  wished 
bouquets  were  expected  to  help  themselves.  Gera- 
niums and  rose-bushes  grew  like  trees  and  wrere  often 
as  high  as  the  houses.  In  some  of  the  yards  were  rose- 
bushes with  six  or  seven  different  kinds  of  roses 
grafted  on  them,  and  all  in  full  bloom.  Roses  were 
often  as  large  in  circumference  as  tea  saucers  and 
rosebuds  were  as  large  as  medium-sized  hens'  eggs. 

Vines  grew  profusely  and  to  a  great  size.  Even 
smilax,  which  is  so  fine  and  delicate  with  us,  was  a 
great  coarse-looking  vine.  Vegetables,  like  the  flow- 
ers, grew  to  an  enormous  size,  one  potato  would 
make  a  meal  for  six  or  seven  people.  Pumpkins  and 
squashes  were  often  about  three  feet  long  and  com- 
paratively large  in  diameter.  I  saw  strawberries  eight 
of  which  weighed  a  pound.  This  phenomenal  growth 
was  due  to  the  method  of  farming  by  irrigation  and 
fertilization  and  a  favorable  climate  which  permits 
things  to  grow  the  year  around. 

Mrs.  Kendall  and  I  went  to  Sacramento  for  the 
holidays.  I  was  disappointed  in  the  capital  of  Cali- 
fornia. It  was  so  low  and  flat  and  none  of  its  streets 
were  paved,  and  its  20,000  inhabitants  waded  around 


NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

in  the  mud  and  water  of  one  of  the  rainiest  winters 
ever  known  in  California.  I  saw  a  stage  and  six 
horses  go  nearly  out  of  sight  in  the  mud  within  two 
blocks  of  the  State  House.  There  were  many  large, 
costly  buildings,  for  even  then  Sacramento  was  a 
wealthy  city,  but  they  looked  out  of  place  with  their 
surroundings. 

Most  of  the  buildings  were  built  of  wood,  as  they 
were  all  along  the  coast  of  California,  on  account  of 
the  frequency  of  earthquakes.  While  we  were  seated 
at  our  Christmas  dinner  all  the  dishes  on  the  table 
began  to  jingle  like  little  bells.  The  Calif ornians 
exclaimed  "  Earthquake ! " ;  there  were  three  light 
shocks,  quite  a  novel  sensation  to  me,  as  I  had  never 
experienced  one  before. 

Among  the  guests  at  the  dinner  table  was  a  youth- 
ful bridal  couple.  In  the  course  of  the  conversation 
I  learned  that  they  had  both  been  married  and 
divorced  twice  that  week,  and  their  present  marriage 
was  their  third  venture.  Divorces,  like  marriage 
licenses,  could  be  had  there  in  those  days  by  simply 
asking  for  them  and  paying  the  fee  required  by  law 
for  issuing  them.  It  did  not  hurt  the  reputation  of 
either  a  man  or  woman  to  be  divorced  six  or  seven 
times.  San  Francisco  led  the  world  in  the  number  of 
divorces.  Every  morning  the  newspapers  published 
at  least  a  column  and  a  half  headed  "  Long  Division." 
People  were  still  leading  fast  lives  but  nothing  as 
they  led  when  California's  golden  days  were  at  their 


THE    LAND    OF    FRUIT    AND    FLOWERS     343 

height.  There  was  not  a  gathering  of  any  kind  where 
both  men  and  women  did  not  drink  liquor  and  were 
not  more  or  less  intoxicated.  The  women  were  dressed 
on  the  streets  showily  and  wore  very  long  trains. 
They  never  held  them  up  nor  appeared  to  have  any 
concern  about  them,  for  they  were  afraid  if  they  did 
someone  would  think  they  did  not  own  a  gold  mine. 
The  smallest  coin  in  circulation  was  the  twenty-rive- 
cent  piece.  The  wealthiest  people  took  nothing  less 
in  change  than  one  dollar.  Nickels  and  dimes  have 
circulated  in  California  for  only  a  few  years,  and  I 
believe  cents  never  have. 

From  Sacramento  we  went  to  Watsonville,  as  Mrs. 
Kendall  had  been  appointed  principal  of  the  Watson- 
ville school.  Late  one  night  we  were  awakened  by 
our  bed  rolling  out  from  the  wall  fully  three  feet. 
We  thought  burglars  were  in  the  house,  but  hearing 
people  screaming  on  the  streets  we  looked  out  of  the 
window  to  see  nearly  all  the  town  in  their  night  cloth- 
ing in  a  little  park  near  the  hotel.  There  had  been 
two  severe  earthquake  shocks,  and  while  we  were 
standing  by  the  window  there  was  a  third.  Four 
years  before  there  had  been  several  earthquakes,  dur- 
ing one  of  which  a  bottomless  pit  was  opened  near  the 
town  and  all  the  glass  in  the  windows  broken  and  the 
chimneys  knocked  down. 

We  did  not  find  our  quarters  at  the  hotel  pleasant, 
so  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Porter,  who  were  one  of  the  first 
families  in  Watsonville,  offered  us  a  home  with  them, 


344      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

which  we  were  glad  to  accept.  Their  house  was  large 
and  like  the  majority  of  the  dwellings  in  California 
was  built  of  wood,  painted  white,  and  all  of  the  win- 
dows that  were  exposed  to  the  sun  were  bays.  These 
windows  were  for  years  used  to  heat  the  houses,  for 
fuel  of  all  kinds  was  very  scarce  and  expensive  before 
coal  was  discovered. 

All  the  Porters'  servants  were  Chinamen — they 
were  the  only  servants  in  California  until  the  Chinese 
were  excluded  from  the  United  States.  "  Non  "  had 
been  with  them  a  month  when  we  went  there  to  live, 
assisting  the  cook  and  waiting  on  the  table.  He  was 
apt  for  a  sixteen-year-old  boy  who  had  not  been  out 
of  China  a  year  and  could  speak  and  understand 
a  considerable  amount  of  English.  One  evening  Mrs. 
Porter  planned  to  have  a  dinner  party  and  Non  told 
her  he  and  the  cook  would  get  up  a  dinner  that  would 
be  the  envy  of  every  Chinese  cook  in  Watsonville. 
He  cut  half  the  flowers  in  the  yard  and  trimmed  up 
the  house  and  dining-room  with  them.  They  were 
woven  into  many  fanciful  designs  and  stuck  in  all 
kinds  of  outlandish  places.  It  was  all  so  novel  they 
were  left  just  where  he  put  them  for  the  amusement 
of  the  guests.  When  the  time  came  for  the  dinner 
and  we  were  seated  at  the  table  Non  made  his  appear- 
ance as  usual  in  his  long  white  tunic  to  wait  upon  us. 
He  was  so  elated  over  the  dinner  he  was  about  to 
serve  he  stepped  around  with  a  very  pompous  air. 
He  had  such  a  flimsy,  sickly,  little  queue,  it  did  not 


to 

x 

C 

*fe 


=C 

e 


THE    LAND    OF    FRUIT    AND    FLOWERS     345 

have  more  than  half-a-dozen  hairs  with  some  rusty 
black  silk  braided  in  with  them.  His  hair  was  so  thin  in 
front  he  could  not  keep  it  in  place  and  it  stood  out  in 
a  fringe  around  his  forehead  giving  him  a  wild  fright- 
ened look. 

When  he  passed  the  soup  he  did  it  with  a  flourish. 
It  looked  appetizing  and  was  of  a  deep,  yellowish 
color,  but  when  we  tasted  it  the  guests  looked  at  each 
other  in  blank  astonishment.  The  perspiration  fairly 
started  on  our  faces  in  our  effort  to  conceal  our  dis- 
gust for  it.  Non,  seeing  it  did  not  please  us,  picked 
it  up  with  the  same  flourish  and  bore  it  to  the  kitchen. 
Then  came  the  fish,  which  had  a  yellowish  substance 
sprinkled  over  it  that  we  supposed  was  hard  boiled 
eggs;  but,  oh,  such  a  taste!  It  was  worse  than  the 
soup.  Mrs.  Porter  arose  from  the  table  and  fairly 
flew  to  the  kitchen  to  find  out  what  had  been  put  into 
the  food.  She  soon  returned  and  told  us  that  while 
the  cook  had  gone  to  the  grocery  store  for  something 
he  needed  Xon  had  chopped  up  three  bars  of  common 
laundry  soap  and  mixed  it  with  the  dinner,  thinking 
it  would  give  it  a  superior  flavor.  She  said  the  cook 
was  fairly  beside  himself  about  it. 

When  Mrs.  Porter  went  to  look  for  Xon  he  had 
gone  and  we  never  saw  him  again.  It  was  so  ridic- 
ulous we  all  laughed  heartily  over  it  and  were  quite 
0"  well  satisfied  as  if  we  had  eaten  a  hearty  dinner. 

The  Chinese  were  allowed  unbounded  liberty  and 
often  settled  in  the  wealthiest  neighborhoods.  Wat- 


346      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND   THE    WORLD 

sonville's  Chinatown  was  within  two  blocks  of  the  best 
residence  street.  The  eternal  clatter  they  kept  up 
night  and  day  with  their  weddings,  funerals,  New 
Year's  celebrations  and  the  great  number  of  fire- 
crackers they  were  constantly  firing  to  keep  the  devil 
out  of  their  town  was  almost  intolerable;  however 
nothing  was  ever  done  about  it. 

The  Chinese,  who  are  natural-born  gamblers,  found 
California  a  fruitful  field,  as  gambling  was  carried  on 
by  all  classes  of  people  openly,  there  being  no  laws 
against  it.  The  Chinese  gamblers  were  in  cliques 
and  they  often  disagreed  among  themselves,  and  there 
were  many  bloody  frays  in  Chinatown,  one  of  which 
I  saw.  A  number  of  them  were  sitting  playing  at 
cards  when  something  took  place  they  did  not  like. 
They  all  jumped  to  their  feet,  screaming  like  a  lot  of 
demons.  In  a  flash  one  man's  head  was  cut  off  and 
another  was  stabbed  to  death.  In  a  few  minutes  the 
dead  bodies  had  disappeared  and  the  murderers  were 
never  captured.  Women  were  still  brought  from 
China  for  evil  purposes.  They  made  a  fearful  state 
of  things,  for  they  were  thick  in  all  the  towns,  and 
there  was  great  rejoicing  when  a  few  years  later  the 
same  companies  that  brought  them  over  were  com- 
pelled to  take  them  back  to  China. 

If  there  were  any  laws  against  the  sale  and  use  of 
opium  they  were  not  enforced  as  they  are  now.  Every 
ship  that  came  from  China  brought  quantities  of  it, 
and  the  Chinese  smoked  it  everywhere.  There  was 


THE    LAND    OF    FRUIT    AND    FLOWERS     347 

not  a  thing  in  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the 
State  that  did  not  smell  of  it.  I  went  one  day  to  the 
Chinese  laundry  where  my  washing  was  done  to  find 
out  why  my  clothing  smelt  so  of  opium,  and  the  sight 
I  saw  made  me  sorry  I  ever  had  gone.  At  a  long 
table  stood  a  dozen  or  more  Chinamen  over  a  large 
pile  of  clothes ;  they  were  sprinkling  them  preparatory 
to  ironing.  They  filled  their  mouths  full  of  water, 
then  squirted  it  through  their  noses  over  the  clothes. 
Some  of  them  had  catarrh  and  other  nasal  troubles 
and  I  thought  my  clothes  ever  afterward  smelt  of 
many  things  besides  opium;  but  there  was  no  way 
out  of  it  as  Chinamen  were  the  only  servants  in  the 
country. 

Watsonville,  like  all  the  other  towns,  was  lively, 
and  there  were  all  kinds  of  entertainments.  The 
ladies  had  their  choice  of  escorts  as  there  were  about 
ten  men  to  every  woman,  as  was  true  everywhere  in 
California.  When  a  lady  was  invited  to  an  enter- 
tainment, if  she  had  no  gown  suitable  to  wear  she 
simply  made  the  fact  known  to  the  gentleman  who 
had  invited  her  and  he  was  only  too  glad  to  provide 
her  with  one. 

I  had  a  great  deal  of  staging  to  do  for  only  a  few 
of  the  railroads  in  the  State  were  completed.  The 
stages  were  modeled  after  the  old  overland  stages  and 
were  lumbering,  rickety  vehicles.  The  horses  were 
Spanish  ponies ;  they  were  very  ill-natured  and  would 
get  to  fighting,  kick  all  their  harness  off  and  delay  us 


348      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

for  hours.  The  stage  drivers  were  rough,  drunken 
fellows  and  one  always  felt  thankful  at  the  end  of  the 
journey  that  he  had  escaped  with  his  life.  One  of  the 
hardest  day's  staging  I  did  was  from  Watsonville  to 
Santa  Cruz,  a  distance  of  thirty  miles.  It  had  been 
raining  for  weeks  and  the  roads  were  bottomless. 
Our  stage  and  eight  horses  sunk  in  the  mud  five  or  six 
times  and  we  were  from  six  in  the  morning  until  late 
at  night  on  the  trip. 

Santa  Cruz  was  considered  an  ideal  seaside  resort 
and  most  of  the  wealthiest  San  Franciscans  had  their 
summer  homes  here.  The  hotel,  like  those  in  the  other 
towns,  was  not  very  comfortable. 

California  has  a  peculiar  climate ;  when  it  is  melting 
hot  in  the  sun  it  is  extremely  chilly  in  the  shade,  and  I 
found  sitting  in  bay  windows  to  keep  warm  with  it 
cloudy  and  raining  half  the  time  not  a  very  pleasant 
experience  and  often  had  hard  colds  in  consequence 
of  the  hotels  being  without  heat. 

At  the  hotel  in  Santa  Cruz  I  met  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
John  Alexander  Day  and  their  son,  Master  John 
Harold  Day,  of  Boston.  I  had  first  encountered 
them  on  the  Overland  train  and  was  amused  to  find 
them  here.  Of  the  people  I  met  on  this  journey  none 
afforded  so  much  enjoyment  to  everybody  as  the  Day 
family. 

No  matter  how  often  Mrs.  Day  spoke  to  her  hus- 
band she  would  first  take  a  long  breath,  then  in  a 
highly  dramatic  way  she  would  say,  "  John  Alexander 


An  American  Indian  of  the  West 


THE    LAND    OF    FRUIT    AND    FLOWERS     349 

Day."  When  Mr.  Day  addressed  his  wife  he  would 
bow  his  head  in  an  apologetic  manner  and  would  call 
her,  "  Eliza  Jane  Day."  This  was  the  source  of  much 
suppressed  laughter  and  the  couple  were  soon  known 
among  the  passengers  as  "  John  Alexander  and  Eliza 
Jane."  However,  most  of  us  sympathized  with  Mr. 
Day;  he  was  one  of  the  meekest  and  most  unassuming 
little  men  imaginable,  and  could  have  traveled  the 
world  over  without  attracting  anyone's  notice  for  he 
sat  quietly  in  the  corner  of  his  seat  with  his  soft  felt 
traveling-hat  pulled  down  over  his  eyes  industriously 
reading  paragraphs  from  papers,  magazines  and 
books  which  his  wife  had  marked  for  him,  never  read- 
ing beyond  the  marking  without  first  asking  her  if  she 
thought  it  best  for  him  to  read  farther.  His  wrhole 
manner  was  as  if  he  would  rejoice  if  the  side  of  the 
car  or  the  floor  would  open  so  that  he  might  escape 
from  the  gaze  of  the  people. 

According  to  Mrs.  Day's  story,  her  husband's  rela- 
tives came  originally  from  the  North  of  Ireland,  but 
had  lived  for  several  generations  in  America.  They 
were  not  educated  according  to  the  Boston  standard 
and  had  no  family  tree,  a  fact  which  she  greatly  re- 
gretted; but  they  were  all  good  business  people  and 
had  amassed  enough  of  this  world's  goods  to  be  com- 
fortable. Master  John  Harold  Day,  like  his  father, 
was  retiring  in  his  manner,  and  had  very  little  to  say. 
He  spent  his  time  in  studying  lessons  his  classical 
mother  had  prepared  for  him,  or  looking  over  her 


350      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

family  tree,  as  she  was  anxious  for  him  to  know  how 
many  noble  ancestors  he  was  descended  from  on  her 
side  of  the  house. 

Mrs.  Day's  maiden  name  was  Eliza  Jane  Penobs- 
kay.  She  was  born  and  brought  up  in  Boston  of 
well-to-do  parents  who  gave  her  every  advantage  that 
great  educational  center  affords.  She  was  like  the 
traditional  Bostonian,  very  classical,  and  desired 
everyone  to  know  her  dwelling-place  and  her  origin. 
Her  eccentricities  made  the  Day  family  conspicuous 
wherever  they  went;  for  I  am  sure  one  could  travel 
the  world  over  without  rinding  another  woman  like 
her.  She  was  thin  and  nearly  six  feet  tall,  with  a  fair 
complexion  liberally  sprinkled  with  brown  freckles. 
Her  hair  was  fiery  red  and  always  frowsy.  There 
was  something  diabolically  fascinating  about  the  ex- 
pression of  her  face ;  when  she  became  excited,  which 
was  often,  her  scalp  would  move;  she  could  pull  it 
down  until  it  almost  reached  her  nose,  then  it  would 
fly  back  into  place  with  a  bound  and  her  great  blue 
eyes  would  open  as  if  in  intense  surprise.  She  had  a 
way  of  throwing  up  her  hands  when  talking  as  if  she 
wanted  you  to  see  she  was  possessed  of  twelve  fingers 
instead  of  the  usual  ten.  If  she  saw  they  attracted 
your  attention  she  would  say,  "  I  see  you  notice  my 
extra  fingers;  well,  I  have  just  as  many  toes."  The 
self-satisfied  way  she  had  of  speaking  of  her  deform- 
ities excited  one's  curiosity  and  made  one  desire  to 
know  something  about  this  strange  woman's  history. 


It  did  not  require  urging  or  any  cunning  devices 
to  cause  her  to  unfold  her  rather  remarkable  career. 
She  was  proud  of  it,  and  fully  believed  she  was 
greatly  superior  to  the  rest  of  womankind.  She  would 
begin  her  story  by  referring  to  her  husband  in  her 
usual  way,  as  "  John  Alexander  Day."  "  Not  a  bad- 
looking  man "  she  would  say,  "  but  too  small  and 
dwarf -like  for  a  woman  of  my  height  and  fine 
physique.  You  must  have  noticed  as  soon  as  you  saw  us 
together  that  he  is  plebeian  and  that  I  am  descended 
from  a  noble  family.  On  my  mother's  side  we  trace 
our  ancestry  back  to  William  the  Conqueror.  I  in- 
herited my  extra  toes  and  fingers  from  my  great- 
great-grandfather,  who  came  to  America  in  that  his- 
toric ship,  the  Mayflower.  I  am  very  proud  of  my 
Puritan  ancestors  and  consider  that  the  purest  blood 
I  inherit  from  them  is  concentrated  in  my  extra 
fingers  and  toes.  Doctors  without  number  have  ad- 
vised me  to  have  them  amputated,  but  I  never  could 
think  of  it  although  I  have  suffered  untold  agony 
from  them,  especially  from  my  toes,  which  are  a  little 
longer  than  the  others  and  seemingly  are  always  get- 
ting hurt.  Probably  I  would  be  Eliza  Jane  Penobs- 
kay  to-day  and  an  active  member  of  the  Spinsters' 
Club  if  it  had  not  been  for  my  extra  toes,  for  they 
brought  about  my  marriage  with  John  Alexander 
Day. 

"  I  had  spent  years  trying  to  find  someone  who 
could  make  a  comfortable  pair  of  shoes  for  me  and  it 


was  not  until  I  happened  one  day  to  visit  the  boot  and 
shoe  establishment  of  Day  &  Company  that  I  found 
what  I  desired.  The  clerk  who  waited  upon  me  was 
very  discouraging  and  thought  they  could  do  nothing 
for  me.  While  we  were  talking  I  noticed  a  nice  look- 
ing little  man  sitting  at  a  desk  examining  some  papers. 
It  seemed  he  had  overheard  our  conversation  for  he 
turned  around,  looked  sharply  at  me,  then  beckoned 
the  clerk  to  him  and  told  him  to  send  for  the  head 
boot  and  shoe  maker.  After  carefully  examining  my 
feet  he  said  a  special  last  would  have  to  be  made  for 
me  and  took  a  plaster  cast  of  my  feet.  In  less  than  a 
week  I  received  the  shoes  and  they  fitted  like  a  charm. 
I  at  once  set  about  to  find  who  the  little  man  was 
who  had  been  instrumental  in  giving  me  such  happi- 
ness. I  found  that  it  was  John  Alexander  Day,  the 
owner  of  the  establishment.  I  wrote  him  a  letter  of 
thanks  and  he  hastened  to  call  upon  me  and  we  were 
soon  friends,  and  in  time  our  friendship  ripened  into 
love  and  we  were  married.  He  is  a  wealthy  man  and 
we  live  in  a  fine  mansion  and  have  everything  that 
heart  can  wish. 

"  Six  years  of  our  wedded  life  were  nothing  but 
sunshine  and  happiness.  On  the  sixth  anniversary  of 
our  wedding  day  we  gave  a  large  dinner  party.  After 
the  guests  were  gone  John  Alexander  Day  lay  down 
on  the  lounge  and  fell  asleep.  Oh,  what  do  you  think 
happened!  I  can  never  think  of  it  calmly.  If  he 
didn't  snore  loudly  enough  for  one  to  hear  him  at  the 


THE    LAND    OF    FRUIT    AND    FLOWERS     353 

top  of  the  roof — something  he  had  never  done  since 
we  were  married.  I  dislike  snoring.  I  can  scarcely 
live  in  the  house,  or  in  the  neighborhood  even,  where 
anyone  has  that  disgusting  habit.  When  I  told  him 
of  it  he  declared,  like  everyone  else  who  snores,  he  did 
not  do  it  and  I  was  only  dreaming.  At  any  rate,  I 
gave  him  a  bed  in  the  back  of  the  house  that  night  and 
the  next  day  carpenters  were  called  in  and  a  room  was 
fitted  up  for  him  in  the  garret.  I  had  windows  made 
in  the  roof  so  when  the  noise  he  made  grew  too  terrible 
these  windows  could  be  opened  to  let  the  inhabitants 
of  the  stars  hear  him." 

Mrs.  Day  fully  believed  that  snoring  is  caused  by 
what  one  eats  and  drinks,  so  she  began  to  investigate 
her  husband's  way  of  living.  She  knew,  of  course, 
what  his  habits  at  home  were,  for  she  was  a  woman 
who  stood  at  the  head  of  her  household,  but  their 
home  was  in  one  of  Boston's  suburbs  and  her  hus- 
band took  his  noonday  luncheon  in  the  city,  so  she 
made  a  visit  to  the  keeper  of  the  restaurant  where  her 
husband  had  been  a  regular  customer  for  years.  Here 
she  found  her  husband  had  been  eating  two  pork  chops 
a  day  for  some  time.  This,  she  was  satisfied,  was  the 
cause  of  all  their  unhappiness.  The  love  of  animals 
was  a  hobby  with  Mrs.  Day  and  she  had  made  them 
one  of  her  special  lines  of  study  for  years.  She  had 
gone  so  far  as  to  live  in  tents  for  nights  and  days  near 
hog  pens,  cow  stables,  sheep  corrals,  in  zoological  gar- 
dens and  menageries,  so  as  to  be  well  versed  in  the 


354      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

sleeping  habits  of  various  animals.  She  said  nearly 
all  animals  dreamed,  even  the  lower  orders,  and  made 
outcries  in  their  sleep,  but  no  animal  but  the  hog  was 
a  natural-born  snorer.  She  thought  if  the  hog  could 
be  exterminated  it  would  be  the  greatest  blessing  that 
had  ever  been  bestowed  upon  mankind. 

After  consulting  several  eminent  physicians  she  de- 
cided to  take  Jher  husband's  case  in  her  own  hands,  as 
she  believed  by  regulating  his  diet  she  would  soon  be 
able  to  attain  the  desired  effect.  So  for  breakfast  she 
gave  him  five  mouthfuls  of  lamb,  a  tablespoonful  of 
oatmeal,  half  a  tablespoonful  of  potatoes,  a  slice  of 
stale  bread,  one  tablespoonful  of  coffee  mixed  with 
two  of  hot  water,  and  over  the  whole  she  sprinkled  a 
little  pepsin.  For  luncheon  he  was  given  four  mouth- 
fuls of  lamb,  one  tablespoonful  of  potatoes,  two  of 
vegetables,  a  slice  of  stale  bread  and  a  cup  of  hot 
water.  Dinner  was  the  most  amusing  part  of  her 
heroic  treatment,  not  for  Mr.  John  Alexander  Day, 
however,  but  for  the  guests  of  the  hotel. 

Mrs.  Day  had  a  trunk  full  of  old  finery  very  much 
out  of  style,  for  it  was  her  belief  that  everyone  should 
wear  their  old  clothes  when  traveling.  Some  of  her 
gowns  looked  as  if  they  had  come  out  of  the  ark. 
Nearly  all  of  them  were  made  of  different  shades  of 
light  blue,  green  and  violet  velvet,  elaborately  trimmed 
with  bugles  and  iridescent  beads;  she  always  put  on 
one  of  these  gorgeous  gowns  for  dinner  and  looked 
like  the  elephant-tamer  at  the  grand  entry  of  a  circus. 


THE    LAND    OF    FRUIT    AND    FLOWERS     355 

From  the  time  she  entered  the  dining-room  until  she 
left  it  all  eyes  were  upon  her. 

When  the  waiter  came  to  seat  them  she  would  throw 
up  her  hands  and  exclaim  in  a  voice  loud  enough  to  be 
heard  in  every  part  of  the  room,  "  John  Alexander 
Day,  don't  you  eat  a  mouthful  of  meat  for  your 
dinner;  you  know  how  it  makes  you  snore.  Waiter, 
bring  my  husband  three  spoonfuls  of  weak  soup,  one 
spoonful  of  potatoes,  two  of  other  vegetables,  one 
slice  of  stale  bread  and  half  a  cupful  of  tea  filled  up 
with  hot  water."  Then  they  took  their  seats  amid 
shouts  of  laughter  from  the  guests. 

One  evening  an  editor  from  one  of  the  San  Fran- 
cisco papers  was  present.  He  drew  an  atrocious 
caricature  of  Mrs.  Day  and  wrote  some  verses  about 
the  way  she  had  of  curing  her  husband  of  snoring.  It 
was  so  humorous  one  of  the  guests  set  it  to  music  and 
sang  it  for  Mrs.  Day,  but  it  made  no  change  in  her 
whatsoever.  She  kept  right  on  in  the  same  way  re- 
gardless of  people's  jeers. 

It  was  from  this  remarkable  woman  that  I  first 
learned  to  put  pockets  in  my  petticoats.  They  are  so 
useful  when  traveling,  especially  now  when  women's 
clothes  are  pocketless.  Her  petticoat  pockets  were  of 
the  old-fashioned  kind,  inherited  from  her  great- 
great-grandmothers,  and  they  held  nearly  a  half- 
bushel.  They  were  fastened  around  the  waist  by  a 
strap  or  strong  cord.  It  seems  that  women  were  more 
to  be  trusted  than  they  are  now  for  they  carried  about 


356      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

with  them  in  their  pockets  all  the  family  secrets,  and 
treasury  too,  for  there  were  no  safes  or  safety  deposit 
vaults  in  those  days.  What  a  glorious  harvest  the 
holdup  men  would  reap  if  such  pockets  were  fashion- 
able now,  for  a  woman  had  to  walk  slowly  when  her 
pockets  were  full,  as  they  held  nearly  a  hundred 
articles — at  least  Mrs.  Day's  did. 


CHAPTER   TWENTY-NINE 

THE  CIRCLE  COMPLETE 

FROM  Santa  Cruz  I  crossed  the  Bay  in  a  launch 
to  Monterey.  When  we  were  about  a  half  mile 
from  the  shore  one  of  the  boatmen  showed  me  some 
Portuguese  whale  fishermen,  who  made  their  head- 
quarters at  Monterey.  They  were  out  looking  for 
whales  which  were  often  captured  along  this  part  of 
the  coast  when  they  came  from  the  north  in  the  winter 
time  to  the  warm  southern  seas.  When  we  got  near 
enough  to  them  so  we  could  see  them  plainly,  we 
noticed  that  they  were  greatly  excited  and  were  shout- 
ing to  each  other.  We  felt  sure  that  they  had  seen  a 
whale ;  presently  we  saw  it  spouting  water  and  heard 
a  shot.  A  harpoon  had  been  fired  from  a  mortar  into 
the  whale,  which  made  a  desperate  effort  to  get  away 
and  came  near  upsetting  the  fishermen's  boats  and 
drowning  them.  Finally,  after  a  struggle  lasting 
nearly  an  hour,  it  rose  to  the  surface  of  the  water, 
dead.  It  was  more  than  sixty  feet  long  and  looked 
like  a  little  black  mountain  as  it  floated  about  in  the 
water. 

This  was  the  first  whale  I  had  ever  seen  and  its 
capture  was  an  exciting  experience.  The  fishermen 
soon  had  the  carcass  in  tow  but  it  wras  four  hours  be- 

357 


358      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

fore  the  tide  was  high  enough  to  beach  it.  By  this 
time  the  odor  from  it  was  so  disagreeable  one  was 
nauseated  by  it.  The  fishermen  laughed  heartily  at 
me  for  being  ill  and  making  a  fuss  about  nothing,  as 
they  said.  Some  of  them  sat  on  the  whale's  back  flay- 
ing off  the  blubber  with  long  knives  made  for  the  pur- 
pose, while  others  carried  it  to  the  rendering  vats.  The 
next  morning  everything  in  Monterey  tasted  and 
smelt  of  it.  Not  a  person  at  the  hotel  could  eat  any 
breakfast  and  Monterey  was  two  miles  from  the 
whale.  Only  a  short  time  before  this  a  dead  whale 
had  been  washed  up  on  the  beach  opposite  Watson- 
ville  and  although  the  ocean  was  six  miles  away  the 
terrible  odor  made  everyone  so  ill  that  the  carcass  had 
to  be  towed  out  to  sea. 

Monterey  had  changed  little  since  it  was  the  old 
Spanish  capital  of  California.  It  was  well  situated, 
a  mile  from  the  ocean,  but  the  town  itself  was  not 
pretty.  The  houses  were  built  of  adobe,  one  or  two 
stories  high,  and  they  had  a  rough,  uneven  appear- 
ance. The  town  at  that  time  had  2000  inhabitants, 
most  of  whom  were  of  Spanish  descent.  Some  of  the 
women  were  very  handsome.  The  country  in  the 
vicinity  of  Monterey  was  charming,  but  it  had  a  new 
appearance  and  was  thinly  settled.  The  hills  back  of 
the  town  were  covered  with  trees  to  the  top.  In  the 
shady,  damp  places  grew  little  golden  backed  ferns, 
as  they  were  called.  The  front  of  the  leaf  was  a  very 
dark  green,  while  the  back  was  the  color  of  gold.  I 


The  Bridal  Veil 


THE    CIRCLE    COMPLETE  359 

never  saw  these  ferns  growing  anywhere  else,  and 
never  have  seen  one  more  exquisite. 

The  adobe  hotel  was  a  quaint  old  building.  It 
would  not  accommodate  more  than  thirty  guests,  and 
these  were  like  a  big  family,  for  everyone  in  Cali- 
fornia at  this  time  was  hail-fellow-well-met.  The 
people  were  very  hospitable  to  strangers.  The  prin- 
cipal diversion  here  was  gathering  sea-moss.  We  got 
up  at  five  in  the  morning  and  went  down  to  the  beach, 
as  the  choicest  moss  was  washed  up  on  the  shore  dur- 
ing the  night.  We  put  it  in  bowls  of  water  where  it 
spread  out  like  the  leaves  of  a  fern,  then  spread  it  out 
on  sheets  of  plain  white  writing  paper  and  put  it  in 
presses  made  of  thick,  bibulous  paper  to  dry.  It  was 
as  delicate  and  fine  as  lace  and  of  the  most  exquisite 
colors,  shading  from  the  deepest  red  to  a  light  pink, 
and  sometimes  it  was  pure  white. 

We  made  crosses  out  of  redwood  shavings,  the  na- 
tive wood  of  California,  and  pasted  them  on  card- 
board, arranging  the  moss  over  and  around  them  in 
many  fanciful  designs.  These  made  pretty,  dainty 
souvenirs  to  send  home  to  our  friends.  We  also 
gathered  star-fish,  quantities  of  which  were  washed  up 
on  the  beach,  and  dried  them,  and  we  caught  little 
horned  toads  in  the  woods,  a  most  peculiar  little  rep- 
tile; these  we  put  in  bottles  of  alcohol  to  take  away 
with  us. 

The  only  way  of  reaching  Southern  California  was 
by  an  inferior  line  of  steamers  that  plied  between 


360      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

San  Francisco  and  the  seaports  on  the  southern  coast. 
It  was  on  one  of  these  steamers,  the  Mahongo,  I 
sailed.  It  was  a  rolling  old  tub  and  nearly  all  the 
passengers  began  to  feel  queer  before  we  were  out  of 
the  harbor.  We  had  only  gone  a  short  way  on  our 
journey  when  a  storm  came  up  and  we  were  nearly 
shipwrecked.  It  was  the  first  ocean  steamer  I  had 
ever  traveled  on  and  I  vowed  when  I  reached  San 
Francisco  I  would  never  travel  on  another  one,  but  I 
soon  forgot  this  unpleasantness  and  in  a  few  months 
sailed  for  Europe  on  a  big  Atlantic  liner.  We  were 
five  days  in  a  terrific  storm  and  once  I  was  nearly 
washed  overboard.  This  seemed  to  harden  me  to  the 
perils  of  ocean  life  and  I  have  been  traveling  ever 
since  on  all  kinds  of  boats  without  any  fear  whatever, 
either  of  the  boats  or  the  weather. 

I  was  charmed  with  San  Diego,  not  however  with 
the  town,  as  it  was  inhabited  with  an  undesirable 
mixed  population,  but  with  its  climate.  San  Diego  is 
on  the  sea  shore  not  far  from  the  Mexican  border,  in 
the  rainless  country,  and  it  is  not  damp  and  chilly  in 
the  winter,  as  are  the  more  northerly  localities.  It  did 
not  become  a  popular  winter  resort  until  the  railroad 
was  built  in  Southern  California  connecting  it  with 
the  Eastern  States.  Then  the  splendid  Coronado 
Beach  Hotel  was  built;  now  it  accommodates  with 
difficulty  the  visitors  who  come  here  every  winter. 

Los  Angeles  and  Pasadena  are  some  distance  up 
the  coast  and  are  twenty-two  miles  from  the  ocean. 


Yoseuiite  Falls 


THE    CIRCLE    COMPLETE  361 

They  are  so  near  together  they  may  almost  be  con- 
sidered one  city.  When  I  first  saw  them  they  were 
far  from  being  the  large,  wealthy  and  popular  winter 
resorts  they  are  now.  I  remember  Pasadena  as  a 
small  town  with  a  few  one-story  houses  occupied  by 
a  peculiar  class  of  people,  called  greasers,  a  mixture 
of  Spanish  and  Indians.  They  were  the  worst  class 
of  people  in  California.  The  men  were  vicious  and 
frequently  committed  murder.  I  disliked  to  meet 
them  on  the  streets  even  in  the  day  time,  they  had  such 
ugly  countenances.  Los  Angeles  had  not  more  than 
3000  inhabitants.  Few  of  the  people  were  well-to-do 
and  the  town  was  not  very  prosperous.  It  had  only 
one  street  of  any  importance;  along  it  were  most  of 
the  residences,  the  shops  and  the  hotel.  Across  the 
street  from  the  hotel  was  Chinatown  and  no  less  than 
five  Chinese  houses  of  ill-fame  in  full  view  of  the 
street.  One  could  hardly  look  out  of  the  window  in 
the  day  time  for  the  indecent  sights  seen  there.  It 
was  in  the  month  of  February,  which  is  the  time  of 
year  the  wild  flowers  are  in  bloom  here.  There  were 
thousands  of  acres  of  land  around  Los  Angeles  that 
were  not  cultivated,  and  wherever  I  went  the  earth 
was  simply  carpeted  with  flowers.  One  day  I  took  a 
twenty-mile  ride  to  the  old  San  Gabriel  Mission.  It 
was  built  by  the  Spaniards  when  they  owned  Cali- 
fornia and  is  more  than  200  years  old.  Its  chime  of 
bells  came  from  Spain  and  is  more  than  300  years  old. 
There  were  no  pictures  nor  anything  to  admire  about 


it  but  its  age  and  history ;  however,  I  saw  a  sight  here 
that  was  more  extraordinary  than  the  Mission.  It  was 
a  Spanish  woman  140  years  old.  Her  limbs  were  so 
weak  she  could  not  walk,  but  otherwise  she  seemed 
perfectly  well;  she  told  me  through  an  interpreter 
that  she  was  happy  and  pleased  that  God  had  seen 
fit  to  let  her  live  so  long.  Her  eyes  alone  showed  her 
great  age;  they  were  bloodshot  and  had  dark  circles 
and  deep  wrinkles  around  them.  She  related  many 
noted  events  that  she  recalled  personally  in  order  to 
show  that  she  really  had  lived  to  the  age  claimed  for 
her.  She  could  see  without  glasses  and  she  had  not 
only  her  second  sight  but  her  third  sight.  She  sat 
making  patchwork  and  her  sewing  was  neatly  done; 
she  showed  me  where  she  had  patched  and  darned  her 
dress.  The  work  could  not  have  been  better  done  by 
anyone.  I  saw  in  one  of  the  San  Francisco  papers 
that  she  lived  to  be  146  years  old. 

We  took  another  route  on  the  return  journey  and 
drove  through  twenty  miles  of  orange  groves.  It  was 
a  magnificent  sight;  the  trees  were  thrifty  and  were 
fairly  breaking  down  under  their  load  of  golden  fruit. 
The  ground  under  the  trees  was  covered  with  oranges 
and  men  were  carrying  them  to  the  boxing  houses. 
This  was  before  the  narrow-gauge  railroads  were 
built  through  the  groves.  The  fragrance  from  the 
blossoms,  as  orange  trees  bear  fruit  and  flowers  at 
the  same  time,  was  so  strong  it  gave  me  a  severe  head- 
ache. 


Glacier  Point  and  Half  Dome 


THE    CIRCLE    COMPLETE  363 

Santa  Barbara,  on  the  coast  above  Los  Angeles, 
was  the  only  town  in  Southern  California  that  had 
hotel  accommodations  for  winter  visitors.  It  was 
packed  full  of  people,  mostly  invalids.  This  gave  a 
gloomy  impression  of  the  town  although  it  is  one  of 
the  prettiest  places  in  California.  Santa  Barbara  is 
not  as  popular  now  as  it  used  to  be  and  does  not  have 
as  many  visitors  as  Los  Angeles.  It  has  natural  hot 
baths  that  come  from  the  boiling  springs  in  the  moun- 
tains back  of  the  town  and  these  baths  are  thought  to 
be  beneficial  for  many  kinds  of  diseases.  It  once  had 
the  largest  grape  vine  in  the  world  covering  nearly 
an  acre  of  ground.  The  owners  of  the  ground  on 
which  it  grew  got  to  quarreling  over  it  and  one  of 
them  poured  hot  water  around  the  vine  and  supposed 
that  he  had  killed  it.  However,  another  vine  came  up 
from  the  root  and  this  was  of  a  great  size  when  I  saw 
it  and  it  was  thought  that  it  might  grow  to  be  as 
large  as  the  old  one  if  well  cared  for. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  sights  I  saw  in  Cali- 
fornia was  the  almond  and  English  walnut  orchards 
in  bloom  near  Santa  Barbara.  There  are  hundreds 
of  acres  in  these  orchards  and  when  seen  from  a  dis- 
tance they  looked  like  great  snow  banks  with  a  slight 
tinge  of  pink  through  them. 

California  has  much  fine  scenery.  Some  of  its  high- 
est peaks  are  covered  with  snow  nearly  the  year 
around.  I  did  not  visit  the  mountain  regions  so  did 
not  see  the  Yosemite  Valley  the  first  time  I  was  here, 


364      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

for  the  snow  was  still  deep  there  when  I  left  the  coun- 
try the  last  of  May.  I  did  go  to  see  some  of  the  gold 
and  silver  mines  and  one  quicksilver  mine  near  San 
Jose.  After  the  first  experience  I  did  not  care  for 
them,  going  down  hundreds  of  feet  under  the  ground 
and  wandering  around  little  passageways  often  too 
low  to  permit  one  to  stand  erect  with  nothing  but  the 
light  from  a  small  lantern  to  guide  you  was  often  de- 
pressing and  gave  me  a  creepy  feeling  when  I  thought 
of  the  tremendous  load  that  hung  over  my  head. 
When  I  saw  the  miners  at  work  down  there  it  seemed 
to  me  there  was  no  worse  way  of  spending  one's 
life  unless  it  were  serving  a  life  sentence  in  the  peni- 
tentiary. The  mining  camps  were  miserable  places. 
The  miners  spent  most  of  their  time  when  above 
ground,  as  in  every  mining  district,  drinking,  gam- 
bling and  carousing.  Their  families  lived  in  hovels 
and  eked  out  a  miserable  existence. 

The  big  trees  of  California  were  another  one  of 
the  extraordinary  sights.  There  is  nothing  like  them 
anywhere  in  the  world.  Many  of  them  were  more 
than  200  feet  tall  and  where  they  had  been  felled  the 
stumps  were  large  enough  for  a  quadrille  to  be  danced 
upon  them  with  ease. 

San  Francisco  was  not  more  than  half  its  present 
size  and  lacked  many  of  the  improvements  of  modern 
civilization.  Skyscrapers  and  elevators  were  a  curios- 
ity in  those  days.  The  Palace,  Rolston's  famous 
hostelry,  which  was  the  best  in  California,  and  one  of 


Cloud's  Rest  Trail 


THE    CIRCLE    COMPLETE  365 

the  best  in  America,  had  not  an  elevator  in  it.  If 
one  wanted  to  see  California's  noted  millionaries  one 
had  but  to  stop  at  the  Palace  for  a  few  days  as  it  was 
always  full  of  these  people.  The  gowns  worn  by  the 
women  and  the  gems  worn  by  both  men  and  women 
were  enough  to  turn  the  head  of  a  person  not  accus- 
tomed to  such  displays  of  wealth. 

One  of  the  most  noticeable  women  at  the  Palace 
and  one  who  knew  how  to  wear  both  her  gowns  and 
jewels  to  the  best  advantage,  was  Mrs.  T.  M.  Bell. 
She  was  married  to  a  multi-millionaire  who  was  old 
enough  to  be  her  father.  After  living  with  him  for 
ten  years  she  left  him  and  he  gave  her  $3,000,000. 
She  had  a  gown  made  in  Paris  that  cost  $10,000  to 
wrear  her  $400,000  set  of  diamonds  with.  I  be- 
lieve this  was  the  largest  value  in  diamonds  she  ever 
wore  at  once  although  she  had  a  million  dollars  worth 
of  jewels.  Her  $50,000  diamond  earrings  were  more 
celebrated  than  any  of  her  other  gems.  I  saw  ac- 
counts of  them  in  newspapers  the  world  over.  She 
had  a  girdle  that  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention. 
It  was  three  inches  wide  and  had  pointed  ornaments 
in  the  front  and  back  five  inches  wide.  There  was  not 
a  diamond  on  it  that  did  not  weigh  a  carat  and  a  half, 
and  some  of  them  were  nearly  as  large  as  pigeon's 
eggs.  I  came  from  Europe  with  her  on  the  same 
steamer.  She  had  a  little  satchel  in  which  she  used  to 
carry  around  $500,000  worth  of  diamonds,  which  she 
showed  me.  She  was  in  extremely  poor  health  at  that 


366      NEWEST   WAY   ROUND   THE    WORLD 

time  and  many  times  she  used  to  tell  me  she  would 
give  all  of  her  jewels  to  be  well.  Her  poor  health 
was  brought  on  by  high-living  in  California. 

The  Lick  House  was  another  popular  hotel,  named 
for  its  owner,  who  was  many  times  a  millionaire. 
People  used  to  go  there  to  see  the  dining-room,  the 
walls  of  which  were  covered  to  the  ceiling  with  large 
oil  paintings  and  mirrors  set  in  the  wall  like  panels. 
The  paintings  cost  a  vast  sum  of  money  as  they  were 
all  by  noted  artists  and  were  scenes  in  California. 
Ladies  who  were  traveling  alone  went  to  the  Occi- 
dental Hotel.  It  was  well  kept  and  afterward  much 
improved  and  for  many  years  popular  as  a  ladies' 
hotel. 

At  least  half  of  the  people  lived  in  lodging-houses 
and  took  their  meals  in  restaurants.  This  way  of  living 
was  confined  to  San  Francisco  alone.  San  Fran- 
cisco's parks  were  rather  wild  and  had  a  new  look  as 
they  had  not  been  much  improved  at  this  time.  The 
Seal  Rocks  and  Cliff  House  were  a  great  sight,  as  not 
only  the  rocks  but  the  ocean  swarmed  with  sea  lions, 
and  there  were  thousands  where  there  is  one  now. 
There  was  a  very  large  reservoir  here  which  had  a  sea 
lion  in  it  weighing  600  pounds,  the  largest  ever  cap- 
tured off  the  coast  of  California.  It  was  called  "  Old 
Ben  Butler  "  after  the  celebrated  general  who  made 
himself  notorious  by  carrying  off  the  silverware  and 
valuables  of  the  people  during  his  campaigns  in  the 
Southern  States. 


GO 
iH 

g 
•*» 

O 


THE    CIRCLE    COMPLETE  367 

It  was  the  latter  part  of  March,  1903,  twenty-seven 
since  I  made  the  trip  to  California  narrated 
here,  and  I  was  again  in  San  Francisco  and  ready  to 
return  home  by  the  route  of  the  old  days.  I  crossed 
over  to  Oakland  by  the  ferry  and  standing  on  the 
railroad  track  not  far  from  the  landing,  was  the 
Overland  train,  a  through  train  as  all  of  the  overland 
trains  are  now,  made  up  of  six  Pullmans,  two  bag- 
gage cars  and  a  mail  car,  drawn  by  two  of  the  largest 
locomotive  engines  manufactured  in  the  United 
States.  They  fairly  shook  the  earth  with  their 
pent-up  fury  waiting  for  the  throttles  to  be  opened. 
They  speed  us  at  the  rate  of  forty-five  or  fifty  miles 
per  hour,  and  we  now  accomplish  the  2300-mile  jour- 
ney to  Chicago  in  a  little  more  than  three  days  from 
the  time  we  leave  the  coast. 

A  young  Englishman  and  his  bride  came  all  the 
way  from  Kobe,  Japan,  with  me  on  their  way  to  Eng- 
land. They  never  had  been  in  America  before,  and 
were  greatly  pleased  with  our  cars.  They  went 
through  the  train,  calling  it  a  palace  on  wheels,  and 
saying  all  sorts  of  pleasant  and  complimentary  things 
about  it.  They  declared  the  observation  car  with  its 
magnificent  drawing-room  was  good  enough  for  King 
Edward  himself.  They  admired  the  dining-room  also. 
It  was  new  and  very  pretty  and  the  food  and  service 
could  not  have  been  better.  I  enjoyed  it  myself  when 
I  thought  of  the  wretched  places  we  ate  in  when  I 
first  journeyed  over  the  road  and  of  the  buffalo-steaks 


368      NEWEST    WAY    ROUND    THE    WORLD 

that  were  served.  The  passengers  wished  then  more 
than  once  when  they  tried  to  eat  the  hard  black  meat 
that  all  the  buffaloes  were  dead ;  they  would  not  have 
to  wish  that  now,  for  these  animals  have  become  almost 
extinct,  only  a  few  being  owned  by  private  individuals 
and  zoological  gardens,  in  addition  to  the  herds  pre- 
served in  Yellowstone  Park  and  by  the  Canadian 
government. 

Marvelous  changes  had  taken  place  in  the  country 
all  along  the  railroad.  Nevada,  Utah,  Wyoming  and 
Nebraska  were  no  longer  territories.  It  hardly  seemed 
possible  that  in  so  short  a  time  what  was  nothing  but 
a  vast  wilderness  inhabited  mostly  by  savages,  was 
now  a  well-improved  and  prosperous  country  of  rich 
farms  and  flourishing  towns.  But  nowhere  did  I  see 
so  great  a  change  as  had  taken  place  in  Chicago. 
When  I  left  it  for  my  first  trip  to  California  there 
were  not  more  than  600,000  inhabitants.  Now  it  is 
twenty  miles  across  and  has  a  population  of  more 
than  two  and  a  half  million. 

When  I  reached  my  home  in  Hyde  Park  I  had 
completed  my  trip  around  the  world,  after  ten  months 
of  hard  travel.  Hyde  Park  is  now  a  solidly  built-up 
district  of  the  city;  twenty-seven  years  ago  it  was 
nothing  but  a  little  village,  nearly  a  day's  journey 
from  Chicago,  and  the  majority  of  its  inhabitants 
were  bullfrogs. 

THE  END 


A     000100075     1 


